March 19th.GoogleIn its AI-driven Gemini ChatbotsThe addition of a new feature called Canvas marks another important step in Google's journey to transform its chatbot platform into a full-fledged productivity suite.
Canvas is conceptually similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT Canvas tool and Anthropic's Artifacts.It provides Gemini users with an interactive space in which they can create, refine and share writing and programming projects. Dave Citron, Google's Gemini product manager, said in a blog post, "Canvas is designed to work seamlessly with Gemini. With these new features, Gemini is becoming a more effective collaboration partner, helping users bring their ideas to life."
Such workspaces are the latest attempt by AI companies to transform chatbot platforms into productivity suites. Specialized workspaces can provide a higher level of precision than text-only interfaces, theAnd the ability to preview the code in real time.
Gemini Canvas, which can be launched from Gemini's prompt bar (web and mobile), allows users to draft lengthy messages with the Gemini chatbot, which can then be edited and fine-tuned. With Canvas, users can update specific parts of the draft and adjust tone, length and formatting with specialized tools. As an example, Citron blogged, "For example, you can highlight a paragraph and then ask Gemini to make it more concise, more professional, or more casual. If you want to collaborate with others to edit the content you've just created, you can export it to Google Docs with just one click."
Canvas also has programming capabilities.Includes a feature that allows users to generate and preview HTML, React code, and other web application prototypes.The user can ask Gemini to make changes to the preview. Users can ask Gemini to make changes to the preview content, and Canvas will iteratively refresh the preview. In a blog post, Citron writes, "For example, if you want to create an email subscription form for your website, you can ask Gemini to generate the HTML code for the form and then preview how it will look and function in your web application."
1AI notes that in addition to Canvas, Google has announced the introduction of NotebookLM's Audio Overview feature to Gemini. Google's NotebookLM became popular last year for its Audio Overview feature.This feature creates podcast-style audio summaries that sound very authenticThe Audio Overview feature in Gemini accepts files and content in a variety of formats, including documents, web pages, and other sources. Similar to the audio overview feature in NotebookLM, the audio overview feature in Gemini accepts files and content in multiple formats. Uploading a document via the prompt bar triggers an audio overview shortcut, which generates a summary that users can download or share via the Gemini app on the web or mobile.
The Canvas and Audio Overview features are currently available free of charge to Gemini users worldwide. However, the code preview feature of Canvas is currently limited to the web, and the audio overview summaries are available in English only.
