They say imitation is a sincere form of flattery, and Google seems to agree.
On Tuesday, the company added functionality to its AI-powered Gemini chatbot. Similar concepts to OpenAI's identically named canvas tool for CHATGPT and Anthropic artifacts provide Gemini users with an interactive space to create, refine and share writing and coding projects.
“Canvas is designed for seamless collaboration with Gemini,” writes Dave Citron, Gemini's product director, in a blog post shared with TechCrunch. “These new features make Gemini more effective collaborators and help you realize your ideas.”
Workspaces such as Gemini Canvas, ChatGpt Canvas and Artifact are the latest attempts by AI companies to transform chatbot platforms into full-fledged productivity suites. Dedicated workspaces not only provide more accuracy than just text-based interfaces, but also provide a way to preview your code in real time.
Gemini's new Canvas Tool.image coding using credits: Google
Gemini Canvas can be launched via the prompt bar from the Gemini app on the web and Mobile, allowing users to draft long messages in Gemini, edit and tweak them. Using the canvas, users can update specific sections of the draft and adjust the tone, length and format via dedicated tools.
“For example, I'll highlight the paragraph and ask Gemini to make it more concise, professional, or informal,” Citron explained in a blog post. “If you want to work with others about the content you create, you can click to export it to Google Docs.”
As mentioned earlier, Canvas packs programming-centric features, including the ability for users to generate and preview HTML, React code, and other web app prototypes. Users can ask Gemini to make preview changes, and Canvas updates it repeatedly.
“For example, let's say you want to create an email subscription form on your website,” Citron writes. “You can ask Gemini to generate HTML for the form and preview how it will appear and work within the web app.”
Write and edit longer docs.image credits using the new Gemini Canvas: Google
In addition to Canvas, Google is bringing Notebooklm's audio overview functionality to Gemini, the company announced Tuesday. Google's Notebooklm went viral last year due to an audio overview. This creates a realistic podcast-style audio summary of documents, web pages, and other sources.
Similar to Notebooklm's Audio Overview, Gemini Audio Overview accepts files and content in a variety of formats. Uploading a document via the prompt bar triggers an audio summary shortcut, and once a summary is generated, it can be downloaded or shared from the Gemini app on the web or mobile.
Both Canvas and Audio overviews are available free of charge to Gemini users worldwide as of Tuesday. However, Canvas' code preview functionality is currently only available on the web, and audio summary summary is limited to English.