Google’s Gemini Update: AI Podcasts and Smarter Features

Google has unveiled exciting new features for its Gemini AI platform. These features are set to roll out across Workspace apps, including Google Docs and Sheets. Among the standout additions is the introduction of AI-generated podcasts to summarize your documents. This feature is intriguing yet unconventional. It combines AI with productivity tools. This update also brings helpful refinements to editing and data analysis. Users can receive suggestions for improving their writing. It even provides insights to better understand spreadsheet trends. As Google integrates Gemini more deeply into its suite of tools, these updates promise to reshape the way we work. However, the question remains: Will these AI-driven tools truly enhance productivity? Or are they just another gimmick?

Did you want two AI-generated podcast hosts? They can discuss the key points of your document before you send it to your boss. No? Nevertheless, you are receiving it. Google has announced new Gemini features coming to Workspace apps, including NotebookLM-style AI podcasts integrated right into Google Docs. These are part of the broader changes from Google’s Gemini Update.

This announcement includes a wide range of new features. All of them place Gemini at the center. These include a tool that will assist you in making sense of your spreadsheets. There’s also an editor that can make suggestions in your documents. Maybe the most uncanny of them all is the podcast feature. It exists in a couple of places already. This highlights the impact of Google’s Gemini Update.

Google’s offering as part of its NotebookLM research tool grabbed a lot of attention. It’s also available in the Gemini app when you upload a file. This update will come to Workspace accounts “in the coming weeks.” It will bring audio overviews right into Google Docs. You will also have the option to have AI read your article out loud. Having your writing read back to you is genuinely useful. However, I used Gemini to generate one of these “podcasts” based on an article I wrote. I’m not in a hurry to do it again.

A prompt to “Help me refine” is another feature that will be added to Docs. It will leave comments with suggestions. These will help tighten up an existing draft. This approach provides guidance rather than just doing the writing for you. I’m familiar with this concept as an editor, and they’re hella useful. This is one of several tools included in Google’s Gemini Update.

If you don’t have access to, you know, a person editor, an AI version might not be a terrible idea. “later this quarter,” this one will be available. Google has lofty but hazy promises for Sheets further out. Right now, you can ask Gemini for help with specific questions and tasks in Sheets. You can ask for visuals related to Google’s Gemini Update.

The “Help me analyze” feature gives you more options to help you understand your spreadsheet. It should be able to assist you in identifying trends. It can provide “guidance to get you started,” similar to an on-demand data analyst. It sounds like we won’t get to try this one until later this year; it’s coming with Google’s Gemini Update.