Google Workspace March Update Brings New Features to Meet and Video

For its Pixel phones, Google started providing “Feature Drops” a few years ago. These are frequent software upgrades that not only correct issues but also include new functionality.

Google Workspace is starting to get feature drops, and the March version includes a number of potentially helpful improvements. Here are some new features coming to Workspace, such as AI-powered voiceovers, the ability to automatically translate chat messages, and the option to automatically produce next actions. 

The March feature drop for Google Workspace was announced Thursday, and it brings a number of new artificial intelligence (AI) features to users, most of which have already been rolled out to eligible users and others will receive them in the coming days. The most notable feature is an update to Google Meet’s “take notes for me” feature, which can now recommend actions for users. Additionally, Google Vids will receive a new AI voice overs feature that will automatically add custom voice overs to every AI-generated scene.

Google claims that this new Meets feature will make sure you don’t overlook crucial meeting takeaways, building on the “Take notes for me” tool that was introduced last autumn. Your meeting’s content will be examined by Gemini in Meets. Following the meeting, you will receive an email summary that includes possible next steps that the participants can do. You can assign these ideas to team members after reviewing and revising them.

According to Google, if you enable its note-taking capability, the email with the post-meeting notes will also include a complete transcript. If you choose to re-enter the meeting, the notes will provide a link to the precise section.

The internet giant unveiled a number of new capabilities for its premium Google Workspace subscribers in a blog post. Google Workspace Business, Enterprise, Essentials, and Education accounts will be the first to receive these. They will also be given to those who currently have a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on. Some of these features may need admin intervention.

The first is a helpful Google Meet update. In August 2024, the Gemini-powered “take notes for me” function was initially introduced to the video conferencing platform. The AI chatbot may now produce a list of actions to perform after a meeting with this upgrade. The steps are included at the bottom of the summary in the same Google Doc and are based on the discussions that took place during the meeting.

Additionally, Gemini assigns each job to the most pertinent meeting attendee and provides due dates. Following their addition, meeting hosts will have the ability to check, revise, and follow up on these activities as needed.

The “help me create” tool on Google Vids is getting an AI voiceover function. In a created video, it can recommend unique voices for every scene. Additionally, users have the option to manually create an AI voice that they believe better captures the video’s content. Users may access Google Vids and use the “Create a new video” option to utilize the new capability. AI voice overs will then appear in the choices.

Google’s AI video generation tool, Vids, is also getting an update. With the “Help me create” feature, you can make a fully editable video from a single prompt, complete with text, background music, suggested scenes, recommended stock media, and even a complete script. Now, you can make AI voiceovers that correspond with each scene in your script, saving you time and effort by adding a professional-sounding voice for any style, according to Google.

Additionally, Gemini is enabling a new “translate for me” function in Google Chat that is being expanded with only one click, it will automatically identify and translate text messages from over 120 languages. Chat will make sure you receive messages in the language of your choosing as they are sent to you, saving you from having to open a separate window to translate them. If necessary, they can also view the original communication. The IT giant also said that it is adding more languages to the list of languages that Gemini supports in Workspace apps.