Google Workspace March Feature Drop: AI-Powered Enhancements for Meetings, Videos, and Translations

Google Workspace 'Feature Drop' delivers better meetings, videos, translations

After a meeting, Gemini now automatically suggests your next steps. Video generation and chat translation also receive AI enhancements. Several years ago, Google began offering "Feature Drops" for its Pixel phones - regular software updates that add new features in addition to fixing bugs. Feature drops are now coming to Google Workspace, and the March update brings several potentially useful enhancements. From the ability to automatically generate next steps to AI-powered voiceovers to automatic translation of chat messages, here's a look at some new things headed to Workspace. Expanding on the "Take notes for me" that debuted last fall, Google says this new Meets feature will ensure you don't miss important meeting takeaways. Gemini in Meets will analyze the content of your meeting. When you receive your email summary after the meeting, you'll see potential actionable next steps for the people involved. You can review and edit these suggestions and assign them to members of your team. Google adds that its note-taking feature will include a full transcript with the post-meeting notes email (as long as you enable this feature). Notes will link to the exact part of the meeting if you want to dive back in. Vids, Google's AI video generation tool, is also getting an upgrade. Using the tool's "Help me create" function, you can create a fully editable video from a single prompt, including suggested scenes, recommended stock media, text, background music, and even a full script. Now, you can also create AI voiceovers that match each scene in your script. Instead of spending hours to get the perfect take, Google says, you can easily add a professional-sounding voice for any style. Lastly, Google Chat's "Translate for me" feature is getting an expansion and can now automatically detect and translate more than 120 languages. When you're sent a message in another language, Chat will ensure you see it in the language of your choice - keeping you from navigating to another window to translate.

Google Workspace Users Are Getting These New AI Features

Gemini across Workspace apps will now support more languages Google Workspace's March feature drop was announced on Thursday, and it is bringing several new artificial intelligence (AI) features to users. Most of these features have already been rolled out to eligible users, and others will get it in the next few days. The most notable feature is an upgrade to Google Meet's "take notes for me" feature, which can now suggest next steps to users. Google Vids is also getting a new AI voiceovers feature that will add custom voiceovers to every AI-generated scene automatically. In a blog post, the Mountain View-based tech giant introduced several new features to its paid Google Workspace users. These will be rolling out to Google Workspace Business, Enterprise, Essentials, and Education accounts. Those who have an existing Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education or Education Premium add-on will also get them. Admin action might be necessary for some of these features. First is a useful update to Google Meet. The Gemini-powered "take notes for me" feature was first added to the video conferencing platform in August 2024. With this update, the AI chatbot can generate a list of steps that can be taken once a meeting is over. The steps are added on the basis of the conversations in the meeting and are added to the same Google Doc, at the bottom of the summary. Gemini also adds due dates for each task and assigns them to the most relevant meeting participant. Once added, meeting hosts will be able to review and edit these tasks and follow up as required. The AI voiceovers feature is being added to Google Vids' "help me create" tool. It can suggest custom voices suited for each scene of a generated video. Users can also manually add an AI voice that they feel better reflects the content of the video. To use the new feature, users can open Google Vids and select the option to create a new video. They will then see AI voiceovers in the options. Google Chat is also getting a new "translate for me" feature, powered by Gemini. It will automatically detect and translate text messages from more than 120 languages with a single click. They can also view the original message if needed. Additionally, the tech giant said it is expanding the languages supported by Gemini across Workspace apps.

Google Workspace March Feature Drop: Improved meetings, AI voiceovers for Vids, and more language support

Google is rolling out its March Workspace update, introducing features for "more effective" meetings, AI upgrades for Vids, and expanded language support. Here's what's new. Google Meet is getting smarter, said the company. The "take notes for me" feature, powered by Gemini, now adds a "Suggested next steps" section to meeting notes. It automatically identifies action items and follow-ups, organizing them in a Google Doc sent to your Gmail inbox. Users can review, edit, or assign these tasks, ensuring nothing is missed. Google noted that this feature has seen "strong adoption" among customers, with many moving away from third-party note-taking solutions. The company added that meeting notes now include full transcripts when enabled. These link to exact discussion points with verbatim quotes for added context. Google also addressed caption challenges in Meet. Users can now scroll back through caption history to review real-time and translated captions, aiding those with hearing impairments or language barriers. Google Vids is improving, too. The "Help me create" feature uses Gemini to craft a "fully editable first draft" of your video from a single prompt and Google Drive content. After selecting a style, it assembles scenes with stock media, text, scripts, and background music. This month, Google introduced automatic AI voiceovers for each scene, aligned with suggested scripts. These professional-sounding voiceovers save hours of recording "the perfect take" and speed up drafting, Google emphasized. In Google Chat, "Translate for me" is now available. Gemini will automatically detect and translate over 120 languages instantly, allowing users to view the original message with one click. This keeps global teams aligned within the app, the company believes. Gemini's language support is expanding across Workspace. The side panel in Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Chat now covers more languages. "Take notes for me" in Meet also supports additional languages, Google confirmed. Availability remains broad, with features rolling out to all Workspace users this month. Google expects these updates to enhance collaboration and productivity.