Generative artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into everyday tasks, appearing in academic papers, student essays, digital ebooks, police reports, tech blogs, and more. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, Google is enhancing its services by incorporating writing tools powered by its Gemini chatbot into Gmail, Google Docs, and other applications. Users interested in learning how to use Gemini AI in Gmail and Google Docs can start by enabling the AI features within their Google Workspace settings.
These features are only available to Google Workspace subscribers and Google One AI Premium plan users. However, there’s potential for these tools to become available to personal account holders in the future.
In Gmail, Gemini AI assists users by drafting entire emails with just a few clicks. The AI can shorten, elaborate, or adjust the tone of emails, making it a handy tool for users dealing with routine communication. In Google Docs, Gemini AI can help create content from scratch or refine existing text. It can summarize long documents, rewrite sections, and even suggest new ideas based on the text already written.
Here’s a look at how Gemini AI transforms content creation and its best uses.
Gemini AI Enhances Gmail Functionality
Gmail has utilized AI in features like Smart Reply and Smart Compose for several years. With the addition of Gemini, text composition capabilities are significantly advanced. When composing a new email in Gmail, users will notice a pen icon with a star at the bottom toolbar. Clicking this icon allows users to input a prompt for the entire email, with more detailed prompts yielding better results.
After generating the content, users can rate it with a thumbs up or down. They can then insert the text as is or refine it by making changes such as shortening the prose, elaborating on points, or adjusting the tone to be more formal.
Gemini’s text refinement feature is especially useful for shortening lengthy emails. However, users should still review the content to ensure important details aren’t missed. While AI-generated text is clear and natural-sounding, its ideal application remains uncertain. AI might be best suited for drafting routine administrative emails, though there is always a risk of inaccuracies.
In addition to composing emails, Gemini also offers a “Summarize this email” button at the top of long conversation threads, listing actionable items via the Gemini button. This feature works well for summarizing and organizing email content, provided the details are not critical.
Gemini AI’s Role in Google Docs
In Google Docs, Gemini AI is integrated as a “Help me write” prompt at the top of a new document. This tool allows users to generate text on any topic, from novel chapters to meeting agendas. The AI button follows users throughout the document, enabling them to insert short sentences or longer text blocks as needed. Additionally, Gemini can continue writing in the same style and tone as existing content.
While Gemini can generate large blocks of text, the results may be generic and lacking in originality. However, the tool’s ability to summarize and rewrite text proves more useful.
Gemini AI: A Writing Assistant, Not a Replacement
For writers, Gemini’s ability to reword and refine small portions of text offers significant assistance, functioning as a more advanced thesaurus. However, for generating extensive content, its limitations become apparent, often producing bland and forgettable text.
Moreover, Google Docs retains a revision history, highlighting large blocks of AI-generated text, which could raise concerns. For those wondering how to use Gemini AI in Gmail and Google Docs, it’s important to review and edit AI-generated content to ensure accuracy.
Knowing how to use Gemini AI in Gmail and Google Docs can greatly improve productivity by streamlining the process of composing and editing text. While generative AI like Gemini may not replace traditional writing methods, it shows promise as a writing assistant.
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