Google has integrated generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its workspace applications like Google documents, Gmail, and Slides, according to a recent statement.

Per the announcement, the workspace applications would possess similar features to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E, alongside Stable Diffusion’s Canva.

Users of Google docs could use AI to generate, summarize and brainstorm text. AI might also be leveraged to generate full emails by writing brief bullet points. On the other hand, Slides users can tap into AI to generate images, audio, and video to enhance presentations.

Google’s Workspace vice president of products, Johanna Voolich Wright, said the product would allow:

“Workspace users to harness the power of generative AI to create, connect, and collaborate like never before.”

Google’s AI product to be available to some US testers

The product will be available to select US-based “trusted testers” later this month, while it will be rolled out for public use later this year. The firm did not provide further information on its launch timeline.

Meanwhile, Google added that the new features would help increase users’ productivity while saving them time.

“Workspace saves you the time and effort of writing that first version. Simply type a topic you’d like to write about, and a draft will instantly be generated for you. With your collaborative Al partner, you can continue to refine and edit, getting more suggestions as needed.”

Google plans to extend the product into its other applications.

Google says AI can’t replace “real people ingenuity”

Although it has talked up the advanced capabilities of its AI product, Google says generative AI cannot be a “replacement for the ingenuity, creativity, and smarts of real people.”

The company wrote that AI sometimes gets things wrong — an allusion to the tech’s costly error that shaved the company’s stock value by around $100 billion.

Due to this, the firm said its focus is on building responsible AI that keeps the users in control. Google added that the AI would only make suggestions that users can accept, edit, and change.

Also Read: Microsoft Eliminates AI Ethics and Society Team

Who is winning the AI tech race?

While Google’s previous AI strides had been fraught with issues, its technological rival Microsoft has made giant strides in developing its ChatGPT.

Previously, Microsoft revealed plans to integrate the ChatGPT program into its Office Suite packages. The firm aims to revolutionize human-machine interactions by integrating AI into its products and tools.

Microsoft has already integrated AI technology into developer tools like Azure and other products like GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Viva Sales. The firm also credited the chatbot for the astronomic growth of its search engine, Bing.

Concerns have, however, been raised about Microsoft’s apparently waning commitment to responsible AI development: recent layoffs mean the company no longer has a dedicated team to ensure its ethical AI principles are integrated into product design.

Of course, some will argue that AI should be an ideology-free zone, after ChatGPT’s political leanings were exposed.

Microsoft’s Bing Chat waitlist is gone, allowing new users who sign up to immediately access the AI powered chatbot without waiting.

The tech giant’s search engine Bing has been making its way to the spotlight after they released their ChatGPT powered chatbot Bing Chat, which was previously available to a select few after joining the waitlist.

Also read: GPT-4 is Here: What You Need to Know About OpenAI’s New ChatGPT

This doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Microsoft released the Bing Chat feature early last month, and they even added an icon on their Edge browser. However, access to the chatbot still required signing in and joining a waiting list.

Only until accepted would one have a go on the AI powered chatbot. That has not been the smoothest onboarding experience, which seems logical for Microsoft to make it easier for the market to use its new Bing.

As of Thursday, many people claimed that they were able to gain access to the chatbot soon after signing up. Windows Central, reported that multiple members of their team were able to use the chat feature instantly.

TechCrunch also tested using multiple email accounts and gained access as well with some of the emails they used. However, one still has to request to join the waitlist after signing up and if you’re as lucky you might get access instantly.

“I joined the waiting list yesterday, it was less than 2 sec long” tweeted one user identified as Khatarina.

While the company did not specify if the waitlist changes were permanent or not, Microsoft said in a statement that it is running various experiments to onboard more users.

“During this preview period, we are running various tests, which may accelerate access to the new Bing for some users. We remain in preview and you can sign up at Bing.com,” said the company.

Bing gives users a taste of ChatGPT-4

The changes in the waitlist came after Microsoft confirmed its Bing AI chatbot has been running on OpenAI’s next generation AI language model, GPT-4.

The announcement generated a lot of interest and excitement on the market at a time GPT-4 is not yet publicly available.

Microsoft invested $10 billion with OpenAI towards the ChatGPT research. They have hit the jackpot as their ChatGPT-4 powered chatbot has Bing on the map. According to Jacob Roach Microsoft Bing Chat saw about 1 million users signing up for the waiting list soon after their initial announcement.

While OpenAI is only offering their latest model ChatGPT-4 to plus members, having access to the Bing Chat gives users a taste of the new ChatGPT which is used to power Bing Chat.

However unlike OpenAI’s chatbot Bing Chat does not allow users to use both text and image as input, but unlike OpenAI Bing has access to the internet which widens the results pool.

A downside to Bing Chat is that one can only have 15 conversational interactions before clearing the chat and starting again as compared to OpenAI, which allows one to save conversation even on the free version.

Tech firms haven’t been sitting by

Microsoft endured criticism when Bing was launched last month as users felt the company had rushed to release the product. But to the company’s credit, many of the challenges the first users encountered have been fixed.

Microsoft has been working non-stop in improving service delivery by integrating AI into most of their products. Recently they added the ChatGPT powered AI bot to windows 11 task bar according to TechCrunch.

Microsoft was scheduled to hold an event ‘Reinventing Productivity With AI’ on Thursday with the company expected to show off more AI features in its Office programs like Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

The popularity of ChatGPT has also put a lot of focus on Microsoft, while other tech companies are also busy incorporating the technology into their products and services.

Google is not just sitting by watching from the terraces. The search giant announced its Bard AI chatbot in February. Google also released AI-powered tools for its suite of online apps on Tuesday, ahead of Microsoft’s announcements later in the week.

Last month, Snapchat also released its AI chatbot ‘My AI’ powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology.

India-based social media platform Koo wants to enhance its users’ ability to create more content through its integration of the popular artificial intelligence (AI) tool, ChatGPT, according to a press statement.

Koo cofounder Mayank Bidawatka said the social media platform would allow users to generate content effortlessly with ChatGPT on its application’s dashboard. He added that users could leverage the tool to curate content about happenings in politics, technology, and other topics of their interest.

According to Bidawatka, ChatGPT could inspire users by providing trending news in their region. Besides that, users have the freedom to type other prompts for the AI tool or use Koo’s voice command functionality.

The cofounder believes the AI integration would push more users to create content on the application.

Koo to add a prompt showing if AI created the content

The Koo cofounder reportedly said it was important that “people should know if (a) content is AI-generated.”

Due to this, the social media application said it would work towards adding a prompt that shows whether a post was created by a human or with the aid of ChatGPT.

Meanwhile, the ChatGPT feature would only be available to verified Koo accounts. The platform said the AI tool would be rolled out for all its users at an undisclosed later date.

ChatGPT integration might help Koo lure more users

Integrating ChatGPT into Koo could provide the Indian social media application an edge over rivals like Twitter. The Indian social media app crossed 10 million users in India in September 2022 following Twitter’s repeated issues with the country’s regulatory agencies.

The application also made some inroads into Africa’s largest country by population Nigeria after the government banned Twitter’s use for some period. However, the gains appear to have eroded as the country’s government abandoned it after unbanning Twitter.

Meanwhile, Koo has had more than 50 million downloads since its launch in 2020, per the company.

With this AI integration, Koo could attract more creators and boost user engagement. This could help close the gap against other social media rivals enjoying superior adoption.

ChatGPT has become a massive sensation in technology with its human-like responses. The application helped Microsoft’s Bing cross 100 million daily users within a month of its integration.

What does this mean for the future of social media

Last year, several social media platforms, like Twitter, Reddit, etc., integrated web3 applications into their ecosystem. The increasing popularity of the AI narrative could spur these platforms into integrating these tools for their users.

Already, reports have emerged that Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk is recruiting a team to build a rival against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as well as Koo and others.

Meanwhile, integrating AI generative text technology could potentially revolutionize social media postings. Users would be able to generate social media content more intuitively and efficiently. At the same time, they can create more engaging content that could boost the overall growth of the platform.