Google brings AI to Gmail, Docs for Workspace users with a slight increase in plan costs

Google is bringing its artificial intelligence (AI) features across Google Workspace—including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, and Chat—to business and enterprise plan customers, with no additional add-ons required.

The tech giant, however, mentioned that Google Workspace customers might see a slight increase in their plan costs, instead of paying separately for add-ons to access AI capabilities.

For example, a customer on the Workspace Business Standard plan with the Gemini Business add-on previously paid $32 per user per month, but will now pay $14 per user per month—$2 more than the original Workspace cost without Gemini, explained Jerry Dischler, President of Cloud Applications, Google.

In a blog post, Dischler pointed out that over the past year, the company has witnessed more than 100,000 customers embrace generative AI to unlock employee productivity, creativity, and innovation. 

The AI capabilities, which will start rolling out to Google Workspace Business and Enterprise customers, include Gemini integrating AI into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat, Vids, and more, helping users work faster. It will assist with summarising, drafting and finding information, creating professional content, and enhancing meetings by taking notes and improving audio/video.

Gemini Advanced can help with learning, brainstorming, coding, research, and data analysis. Users can also build Gems, a team of AI experts for repeatable or specialised tasks, on their laptop or mobile device.

Additionally, with NotebookLM Plus, users can upload sources for instant insights and audio overviews and share customised notebooks to speed up learning.

“We believe that AI is not just another tool; it’s a foundational shift in how work gets done,” Dischler noted.

Google Workspace boasts over 3 billion monthly active users globally and a paying customer base exceeding 10 million, Sumedha Chakraborty, Country Head, Google Workspace, India and South Asia, had said during the company’s inaugural Google Workspace Media Summit at Bengaluru, last month.

The summit highlighted the rapid adoption of AI at the workplace, with 31% of leaders expecting substantial transformation from AI in less than one year. 

Nearly 70% of enterprises leverage Gemini, Google’s advanced AI model, within Docs or Gmail by utilising the ‘Help me write’ feature, while over 75% of users generate images directly within Slides.

The tech firm, citing Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study, had said that Google Workspace saves companies 171 hours per user annually, equivalent to about 21 working days per year.