Well, given I’m writing this question on a blog dedicated to helping non-technical small business owners get the most out of their Google Workspace, the answer is most likely ‘yes’ 🙂
All the devices all the time
First up, there’s the new devices that Google announced:
- Their first foldable phone – the Google Pixel Fold.
- A new addition to their regular Pixel phone range – the Pixel 7A
- A new tablet – the Google Pixel Tablet
So if you’re in the market for a new phone or tablet then it might be worth looking at these new devices. If you’re a Google One subscriber in your personal Google account, then you’ll get some extra goodies as well when you buy any of these devices.
There’s some specials being offered for pre-ordering too – check out the Google Play Store for more information on what’s available.
Did someone say AI?
You just can’t get away from AI buzz, and I/O wasn’t any different – though to be fair, Google’s been using Machine Learning and AI for quite a while (and apparently their AI-powered writing tools helped people write over 180 billion times in the last year alone.).
So what did they announce? It’s called Duet AI and it’s Google’s name for all the generative AI (think ChatGPT 🙂 ) features they’re adding or building upon like:
- bringing the ability to draft complete responses to an email with just a few words as a prompt on your mobile (you’ll have seen this already in email for example where suggested phrases are shown as you type.)
- drafting suggested summary emails for an entire email conversation.
- adding the ability to generate images in Slides with just a few words.
- helping you analyse and act on your data with the creation of a ‘help me organise’ capability in Sheets which automatically creates custom plans. for tasks, projects, or any activity that you want to track or manage.
- even more smart chips, variables and templates to help you take action directly in a document.
Android magic
There’s also quite a few ‘consumer’ announcements around more immersive experiences in Google Maps and greater control over your search history in Maps but I think Magic Editor (not to be confused with Magic Eraser) is something both business owners and consumers can use.
Essentially Magic Editor uses a combination of AI techniques, including generative AI, to help you make edits to specific parts of an image — like the subject, sky or background – and if even a portion of what they showed as an example comes true, then this is game changing.
And even though its being marketed as a way to ‘tidy up’ holiday photos or make personal memories more memorable, there’s definitely business applications here, especially for content creators.
Continuing the generative AI and magic theme there’s Magic Compose which (in addition to offering suggested responses based on the context of your messages) can automagically transform your text messages into different styles. There’s 6 to choose from including Elizabethan English should you wish to impress clients with your keen grasp of when and where to use the word ‘prithee’.
So what you’re saying is…
That although the majority of the conference was dedicated to ways in which developers can take advantage of Google products, there’s still features and tools that will be of great benefit to business owners, no matter the size of your business.
Yep that’s exactly it! Obviously the Duet AI work is most directly applicable to us business owners, but some of the other more consumer-facing features could also be very useful.
I’ve signed up for every new beta and early testing program that I can, and I’ll be checking everything out as and when I get access – letting you, a small business owner, know exactly what I, as a small business owner, think of the products!
(Maybe now’s a good time to sign up for my newsletter so you get pinged when those new articles come out? Just saying…)
You can check out Google’s articles about everything that was announced at 2023 I/O here.
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I specialise in helping small business owners just like you work better with Google Workspace so you can save time and money by streamlining your business processes; increasing your productivity; and improving client and employee comunications.