Artificial Intelligence (AI): What’s new from Google

Over the summer, Google shipped a steady stream of Gemini updates across the Workspace apps we use every day. None of them are separate tools to learn. Each one is built into a familiar app and does one specific job, such as summarizing the comments on a shared document or building a quiz from a PDF. This issue rounds up the updates that are included in our Google Workspace for Education Plus license and are most useful for our work. Two name changes worth knowing first: NotebookLM is now called Gemini Notebook, and the early-access program formerly called Gemini Alpha is now Gemini Beta.

How do you use it?

Each feature below lives in the app named, usually behind the Gemini icon (the sparkle) in the side panel. Gemini features also require that smart features and personalization are turned on for your account. Pick the one or two that match a task you already do this week and try them there first.

Docs: Let Gemini work through your comments

Gemini can now read the comment threads on a document, summarize them, pull out what is still unresolved, draft replies, and suggest edits that address the feedback. Edits stay as suggestions until you approve them. You need edit access to the document.

1. Open a Doc with comments and click the Gemini icon in the side panel, or use the prompt bar at the bottom of the page.
2. Ask something like “summarize the open comments” or “rewrite the introduction to address Maria’s feedback.”
3. Review the summary or suggested edits, then accept, adjust, or discard them.

Docs: Generate and edit visuals

Ask Gemini to create a diagram, infographic, or image that fits the content of your document, or describe a change to an image that is already there. This works on the web only.

1. In an open Doc, click the Gemini icon in the side panel or use the bottom prompt bar.
2. Describe the visual, such as “add a diagram summarizing the three tiers of support at the top of this doc.”
3. To change an existing visual, select it and describe the edit, such as changing the aspect ratio or matching the document’s style.

Forms: Build a quiz with Help me create

Gemini generates a complete quiz, including correct answers and quiz settings, from a prompt and any Drive files you reference. Useful for knowledge checks after a training or for exit tickets.

1. Open a new Form and choose Help me create.
2. Describe the quiz and reference source files from Drive (a Doc, Slides, or a PDF).
3. Preview the quiz, adjust question types or answers, and publish.

Meet: Find your meeting files without the scavenger hunt

Meet now files each meeting’s notes, transcript, and recording into a Google Meet folder in the host’s My Drive, with a subfolder per meeting. Attendees with access get shortcuts in their own Google Meet folder. Your old Meet Recordings folder moves inside and is renamed Legacy Meet Recordings. The redesigned Meet homepage on the web also gathers agendas, attachments, and past meeting files in one place.

1. Open My Drive and look for the Google Meet folder, or open the shortcut in your own Google Meet folder if you were an attendee.
2. Open the subfolder for the meeting (recurring meetings keep all their sessions together).
3. Or go to meet.google.com and use the week and month navigators on the homepage to jump to a past meeting and its files.

Quick tip: If you use the Gemini app (gemini.google.com) on a Mac, press and hold the Fn key to dictate into whatever window is open. Gemini transcribes your speech into clean text at the cursor, drops the filler words, and honors mid-sentence corrections. For staff who think faster than they type, or who rely on speech input, this is one of the more useful accessibility additions of the summer.

How does it help your work?

• Saves time: Build a knowledge-check quiz from a handout in minutes, get a first-draft diagram without opening another tool, and let Gemini turn a wall of comments into a short list of what still needs a decision.
• Keeps you focused: Comment summaries in Docs and the new Meet folder structure cut down on the hunting and scrolling that pulls you away from the actual work.
• Improves accessibility: Voice dictation, AI-generated first drafts that reduce the blank-page barrier, diagrams that give visual learners another way into a dense document, and one predictable place to find meeting transcripts all lower the effort it takes to participate, whether you use assistive technology or not. Consider these tools alongside the SETT framework when you support a student or colleague who needs a different way to produce or consume information.

Keep in mind

Remember that AI is a helper, not a replacement for your judgment. Review every draft, summary, quiz answer, and formula fix before you rely on it or share it. Do not paste identifiable student information into prompts unless the tool is covered by our data agreements. Features roll out gradually, so if you do not see one of these yet, check back in a couple of weeks. You may also read about other new Gemini features this summer, such as full deck generation in Slides, the formula fixer in Sheets, custom edits in Gmail’s Help me write, Ask Gemini in Chat, and slide screenshots in Meet notes. These are not part of our Education Plus license, so you will not see them in your account.

For more information or questions, reach out to Dr. Tiffanie Zaugg, Assistive Technology/AI Specialist.