While the jury is still out on how much AI will improve personal productivity, companies are now looking to monetize AI by building more advanced AI capabilities into their software. Last year, Microsoft made headlines when it announced that Copilot would add $30 per user per month to the price of Office 365 subscriptions. However, creating and running these features is costly, and customers must bear some of that cost.
At Google Cloud Next, Google followed Microsoft's monetization lead and announced two add-on packages for the Google Workspace productivity suite priced at $10 per user per month.
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First, the new AI meeting and messaging add-on takes notes, provides meeting summaries, and translates content into 69 languages. “We're adding 52 new languages to Meet translations, including Filipino and Korean, bringing the total number of languages we support to 69,” said Aparna Pappu, vice president and GM of Google Workspace. says Mr.
The company also introduced an AI security package to help admins keep Google Workspace content more secure, including the ability to classify and protect certain sensitive files. This add-on also helps protect information that should be kept confidential and enforce data loss prevention controls that can be tailored to the specific requirements of individual organizations.
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$10 per user may seem a bit high, especially considering the price of Workspace without these additional features, but it seems to be in line with the cost of similar features from third-party services. Google says that for customers who don't require these add-ons for all users, you can mix and match license types to apply the advanced features that are most useful to you.
It's also worth noting that Google is planning additional enhancements to the Meetings add-on. This includes generated AI custom backgrounds where you can write the background and AI creates it for you, as well as studio-quality lighting, video quality, and sound. There are many new features currently in development, including using AI to deliver professional-quality meetings. The company says these features will be available in the coming months.
Two add-ons are currently available to Workspace subscribers.