When it comes to implementing AI-based solutions, Google needs to move, and it needs to move fast in its huge product catalog. The search engine company, which with considerable effort over the years has managed to become synonymous with innovation for many, is seeing Microsoft do the unimaginable a few months ago and is threatening its position in this regard.

As we already told you, Google decided to announce Bard just a few hours before Microsoft did the same with the new Bing and Edge. However, perhaps because their development was not as mature as in Redmond (Google’s AI announcements were expected to take place at Google I/O 2023, where we still have a lot to expect in this regard), perhaps because they realize what is at stake bet with a failed launch, or perhaps for other reasons and/or a combination of those mentioned above, Microsoft has been moving at a devilish pace for weeks now, while Google still has us ready.

It is therefore understandable that the company sticks out its chest, in recent weeks approx his long relationship with artificial intelligence, because they have been working in this area for many years and have made really important contributions. But of course, this does not satisfy the demand of ordinary users who want to see how solutions based on it come to them every day. Google is also talking about what they call responsible scaling of AI, a position that is also defensible but can still have a negative impact on its image.

Aware of this and considering that they cannot open their solutions to all users, they again made an announcement in the spirit of what served as an official presentation of Bard. I am talking specifically about this publication in which Google announces plans to bring AI-based solutions to Gmail, Docs and other Google Workspace services, among others. A move that will start in Gmail and Docs. Specifically, these are the announced features, as explained in the said publication:

• Create, reply, summarize and prioritize your Gmail
• Brainstorming, proofreading, writing and rewriting in Documents
• Bring your creative vision to life with automatically generated images, audio and video in Slides
• Go from raw data to insights and analysis through auto-completion, formula generation, and contextual categorization in Sheets
• Create new backgrounds and record notes in Meet
• Enable workflows to do things in Chat

The proposal is undoubtedly ambitious, as it could completely change the way we use these services. So it’s quite likely that you’re wondering when and how you can start testing new features, right? Well, here’s the bad news because, and this coincides with Bard’s announcement, Google confirms that beta will be released “in a few weeks” and that it will be done using “trusted evaluators continuously throughout the year«. In other words: barring a surprise, we will have to wait a few more months before it starts reaching more users, even in test mode.

Remember, Microsoft’s plans include integrating Prometheus into Microsoft Office, so we can expect features similar to those announced by Google today. And while the search engine proposal is indeed interesting, they will either step on the gas or see Microsoft overtake them at this point.