Google updates Workspace to make AI your new office intern

2026-04-22 · Source: TechCrunch · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Software Development & Engineering · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, quick

Summary

Google Cloud Next saw significant AI-driven updates to Workspace, Google's subscription-based productivity suite. These enhancements, aimed at reducing busy work for professionals, integrate new automation tools across various applications. Key introductions include Workspace Intelligence, an AI system that automates assistance by drawing on user data from Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive, with user-configurable access controls. Gemini now powers Google Sheets, enabling users to construct and fill spreadsheets via prompts, with Google claiming a "9x faster" data population rate. Additionally, new AI writing capabilities in Google Docs allow Gemini to generate, write, and refine documents, leveraging user data and the internet to match writing styles.

Key takeaway

For AI Product Managers evaluating productivity suite integrations, you should assess Google Workspace's new AI features, particularly Gemini's capabilities in Sheets and Docs, against competing offerings. Consider how Workspace Intelligence's data access controls align with your organization's privacy policies and whether the claimed "9x faster" data entry can translate into tangible efficiency gains for your teams.

Key insights

Google Workspace integrates AI, primarily Gemini and Workspace Intelligence, to automate tasks and enhance productivity across its suite.

Principles

• User control over AI data access is crucial.
• AI can significantly accelerate data entry.
• Contextual data improves AI assistance.

Method

Workspace Intelligence uses user data from Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive to provide automated assistance. Gemini constructs and fills Sheets via prompts and generates/refines Docs content by matching user writing styles.

In practice

• Use Gemini to build and populate Google Sheets.
• Employ AI writing tools in Docs for drafting.
• Configure Workspace Intelligence data access.

Topics

• Google Workspace
• AI Automation
• Workspace Intelligence
• Gemini AI
• Google Sheets

Best for: CTO, Executive, AI Product Manager, Operations Professional, Automation Engineer, IT Professional

Related on AIssential

• New ways to create and get things done in Google Workspace — Google Workspace is integrating advanced AI to transform user interaction from passive assistance to active, voice-driven, and agentic task execution.
• Save time and grow your business with new Gemini tools — Gemini now integrates directly with Google Business Profile and offers "Business notebooks" to provide context-aware AI assistance for small business operations.
• Google rolls out Ask Gemini in Drive to eligible Workspace users — Google's Ask Gemini in Drive now provides AI-powered search across Gmail, files, and folders for eligible Workspace users, improving information retrieval.
• Google brings Auto Browse and Skills to Chrome Enterprise - and a new 'Gemini Summary' — Chrome Enterprise integrates agent-like AI and IT controls to automate tasks and manage AI security risks within the browser.
• Gemini in Google Sheets just achieved state-of-the-art performance. — Gemini in Sheets achieves near human-level proficiency in complex spreadsheet manipulation using natural language.
• I put Google’s 24/7 AI assistant Gemini Spark to work, and it’s actually pretty useful — Google's Gemini Spark demonstrates agentic AI's utility for automating personal and work-adjacent tasks, despite current integration and branding limitations.

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by TechCrunch.