Google Releases Gemini AI for Business

BY BEN SHERRY, STAFF REPORTER@BENLUCASSHERRY

Google is bringing Gemini, its family of highly advanced artificial intelligence models, to small and medium-size businesses as part of Google Workspace, the suite of office applications that includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, and more.

In a blog post, Google Workspace general manager and VP Aparna Pappu wrote that Google had commissioned a survey of 1,000 small businesses in December 2023 and found that 88 percent of SMBs are interested in "working with generative AI technologies to help them with data analysis, task management, email drafting, customer support and more."

Pappu said that Google anticipates three types of teams benefitting most from working with generative AI: sales, marketing, and customer service. For sales teams, Google's Gemini chatbot can create pitch materials and generate leads. In marketing, Gemini can produce ad copy and art for presentations. And in customer service, it can draft personalized responses to customer complaints.

In the blog post, Pappu also demonstrated ways the AI assistant can enhance the abilities of other Google apps. In Docs, Gemini can analyze internal files to write a customer proposal. In Slides, Gemini can generate presentation images. And in Google Meet, Gemini is able to create an AI-generated background image for users. 

Google also emphasized its efforts to protect Gemini users and their data. According to the company, conversations with Gemini aren't used to improve the model's performance, will never be reviewed by humans, and won't be leveraged for advertising purposes. 

There are two versions of the work-focused Gemini product; Gemini Business for small and medium-size businesses, and Gemini Enterprise for large organizations. For Gemini Business, companies would pay $20 per month per person, on top of the $12-per-month per-person fee for Google Workspace. Gemini Enterprise costs $30 per person. Both plans come with a 14-day free trial. 

Photo Credit: Inc.