"MS Nawa" Google launches 'Duet AI' for Workspace... 40,000 KRW per month

Released just three months after first reveal... Email drafts and meeting minutes creation
Full-scale competition expected with MS '365 Copilot'

Google officially launched a generative artificial intelligence (AI) feature integrated into its Workspace collaboration tool on the 29th (local time). This tool assists with drafting emails, taking and summarizing meeting notes, and creating images for work purposes. It is expected to enter full competition with Microsoft's (MS) 'MS 365 Copilot,' which was released last month.

On the same day, Google Cloud held its annual conference 'Next 2023' at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, USA, and announced the launch of 'Duet AI' for Workspace. This comes three months after unveiling Duet AI in May and beginning its pilot operation.

At this event, held offline for the first time in four years since 2019, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, stated, "AI is transforming every industry and business, changing both how companies operate and how people interact," adding, "All customers can start using Duet AI in Workspace from today."

Duet AI, which utilizes generative AI, helps with tasks such as drafting emails or summarizing lengthy documents stored in the cloud within Google's cloud collaboration software tool, Workspace. It also offers features like taking and summarizing meeting notes, generating images, and translating into 18 languages. The fee for corporate customers is $30 (approximately 40,000 KRW) per employee.

Google reported that during the pilot operation, employees using the AI tool to write emails sent 30% more emails than usual. This result is interpreted as a reduction in the burden of writing.

With Google's full launch of Duet AI on this day, the competition for dominance in the business software market with MS's 'MS 365 Copilot,' released last month, is expected to intensify. MS 365 Copilot is a product that integrates generative AI into MS's representative office software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Its functions are almost identical to Google's, and the price is the same.

Both Google and MS are initially targeting existing service users to capture the market. Google Workspace has over 3 billion users worldwide. Google, which first released the corporate service, explained that a Duet AI version covering the entire cloud will be launched by the end of this year, and a Workspace version for general users will be released early next year.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, explained, "Duet AI is now available across a wide range of Google Cloud products and services beyond Workspace," adding, "It serves as a coding assistant, data analyst, and application and security expert."

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) described Google's announcement as "an attempt to grow its cloud business" and evaluated it as "an important part of CEO Pichai's effort to reduce dependence on the 'cash cow' search engine."

According to WSJ, Google's infrastructure and software revenue is about $32 billion annually, accounting for 10% of total revenue. In the cloud market, Google ranks third in market share behind Amazon and MS.

On the same day, Google also announced an expansion of its partnership with Nvidia, a leader in AI semiconductors, regarding AI development. Google Cloud currently uses Nvidia's latest chips, AI100 and H100, for computing acceleration. Google Cloud also plans to adopt Nvidia's next-generation AI chip, the 'GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip,' unveiled on the 8th.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, attended the event and said, "The expanded partnership with Google Cloud will help developers maximize energy efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate work through software and services."

Following the announcement of the collaboration with Google, Nvidia's stock price rose 4.16% to close at a record high of $487.84. Alphabet, Google's parent company, also closed trading up 2.72% at $134.57.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.