Google Workspace Raises Prices for Gmail, Drive, and More While Introducing New AI Features

Google has made a significant change for its Google Workspace clients on Business and Enterprise plans by eliminating the necessity to purchase an add-on for accessing artificial intelligence features across its suite of Workspace applications. According to the company, AI capabilities are actively rolling out to Business plan users, while Enterprise subscribers can expect these enhancements starting January 29.

The latest AI functionality will be integrated into several widely-used Google applications, including Gmail, Docs, Meet, Drive, Sheets, Slides, and Chat. Additionally, these plans include access to advanced tools such as Gemini Advanced and the upcoming NotebookLM Plus.

Overview of Exciting New AI Features

Below is a detailed summary of the new features enabled by Google’s AI across various services:

Gmail
Help me write	Enhance your email drafts effortlessly—from refining your tone with a click to crafting entirely new drafts.
Summarize emails	Generate concise summaries from email messages or threads, spotlighting crucial points.
Gemini in the Gmail side panel	Efficiently draft responses, query your inbox, and summarize essential emails and threads.
Docs
Gemini in the Docs side panel	Create outlines, brainstorm ideas for marketing campaigns, or summarize key points in lengthy documents with ease.
Cover images	Design unique inline or full-bleed cover images for promotional flyers, campaign briefs, and menus.
Help me write	Type in a prompt like “Create a project outline,”and receive an instant draft.
Help me create	Instantly generate various formatted documents, including blog posts and press releases.
Summarize documents	Produce inline summaries for documents, allowing collaborators to quickly catch up.
Meet
Take notes for me in Meet	Capture and organize meeting notes in Google Docs and share them seamlessly with your team.
Adaptive audio	This feature ensures that meetings are echo-free, even when participants are joining from different laptops.
Additional languages for translated captions	Real-time translated captions enhance inclusivity in meetings, allowing participants to follow along effortlessly.
Drive
Gemini in the Drive side panel	Summarize multiple documents at once and generate insightful content conveniently.
Work with PDFs in Drive	Easily extract summaries and insights from lengthy PDF files or create new documents based on the content.
AI classification in Drive	IT teams can automatically classify sensitive files, ensuring appropriate data protection measures are implemented.
Sheets
Gemini in the Sheets side panel	Quickly assemble tables, generate insightful analyses, and more from your spreadsheet data.
Enhanced smartfill	This tool detects relationships between cell contents, offering contextual suggestions.
Slides
Help me create an image	With a simple request, create unique images for presentations, enhancing your visual storytelling.
Remove image backgrounds	Simplify your presentations by easily removing backgrounds from images for a sleek design.
Gemini in the Slides side panel	Effortlessly create new slides, generate custom imagery, and edit content quickly.
Chat
Summarize conversations	Quickly catch up on missed group messages, threads, and conversations with AI-generated summaries.
Gemini in the Chat side panel	Ask for conversation summaries, generate action item lists, or clarify project decisions discussed.
Additional Notable Features:
Gemini Advanced	Engage with Google’s advanced AI to enhance research, ideation, and complex project management. Form AI expertise teams to streamline repetitive tasks using Gems.
NotebookLM Plus Will soon be available as a core service.	Foster better knowledge sharing in teams by uploading your documents for quick insights and audio summaries with the enhanced NotebookLM Plus. This upgrade allows for notebook customization and vastly increased audio output.
*For further details regarding specific feature availability, visit the Help Center here.

For Google Workspace users who previously did not utilize AI tools, the introduction of these features may result in increased subscription costs. Conversely, users who leveraged the AI add-on can enjoy substantial savings due to this new integration.

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