Google has made generative AI (genAI) features more accessible within its Workspace office app suite, introducing a lower-priced payment tier targeted at small and mid-sized businesses. The company announced the rebranding of Duet AI for Workspace to Gemini for Workspace, reflecting a similar change to Google’s general purpose Bard chatbot, which switched to Gemini earlier this month.
Gemini for Workspace is now available through two pricing plans. Gemini Enterprise replaces Duet AI for Workspace Enterprise, with the same additional cost of $30 per user each month. This add-on provides access to a variety of genAI features within Workspace applications, such as email composition in Gmail, text drafting in Docs, and image generation for presentations in Slides.
The new Gemini Business tier costs $20 per user each month, in addition to Workspace Business subscriptions. Gemini Business offers most of the same capabilities as Gemini Enterprise, with certain restrictions. The Enterprise tier provides “more usage” of genAI features and access to closed caption translation in video meetings, which is not available in Gemini Business.
Both pricing plans also include access to Google’s new standalone chatbot AI assistant, Gemini, based on the Gemini 1.0 Ultra model. This additional pricing option aligns Google’s genAI offerings more closely with Microsoft’s, which charges an added $20 per user each month for its Copilot Pro AI assistant, and $30 per month for the enterprise-focused Copilot for Microsoft 365. OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per user each month for individual subscriptions, and $25 per user each month for the team plan.
For organizations already invested in Google Workspace, the preference for Google’s services is likely, according to J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. Convincing small and mid-sized firms to significantly increase their monthly investment in Gemini Business could be a challenge for Google, said Jack Gold, founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.
While there is substantial business interest in the potential of genAI in the workplace, the ease of use and practicality of these tools after a few months of use remains to be seen, according to Gold.
2024-03-02 01:00:03
Original from www.computerworld.com