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Trying Google Docs "Help Me Write" AI

Posted by Jim Craner on August 30, 2023

There are a lot of companies working on AI-based products and services right now.  In our AI workshops for public librarians, we primarily use tools from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.  But we also stay up-to-date on the other players, including Google.

As of today, we still view OpenAI's GPT-4 as the most useful general AI model, whether proprietary or open source.  Lots of AI-based products and services, including our own PLAID training app, are built around OpenAI's models.  But Google has recently announced a push to integrate their "Duet AI" into their Google Workspace offerings.  These are presumably variations of the beta AI tools that have been in Workspace for a while, and they're intended to compete with Microsoft's Copilot offerings in Office.

In a live demo this week, we tried it out!  Our chosen library-specific prompt was:

write a memo for my public library colleagues reminding them that we don't tolerate book banners

It's pretty clear in a library context that "banners" is referring to people who want to ban books, but I could have been more precise in my wording and used "banning" insead.  The Duet AI did comment that censorship is bad, but it seems to think "banners" refers to actual paper signs:

Recently, we have received reports of book banners being placed in front of the library. Book banners are a form of censorship, and we do not tolerate them. If you see a book banner, please remove it and bring it to the circulation desk.

Google Docs automatic writing suggestion, reading: "As you know, the library is committed to providing a safe and welcoming space for all patrons. This includes providing access to a wide variety of books, regardless of their content. We believe that all books have the potential to be valuable and enriching, and we do not support censorship in any form. Recently, we have received reports of book banners being placed in front of the library. Book banners are a form of censorship, and we do not tolerate them. If you see a book banner, please remove it and bring it to the circulation desk. Thank you for your understanding."

But I really like the "Refine" menu when the writing sample is produced.  If you click the "Refine" menu, you can choose several different options such as to elaborate or summarize the text, or to convert it to bullet points.

image of the text sample with a pop-up menu over it. the menu options are: Tone, Summarize, Bulletize, Elaborate, Shorten, Rephrase, and Custom (e.g., make it a poem).

Pretty useful tool, although I'd argue that the quality of these verses has some room for improvement :-)

A google doc with text option "Refine text" applied and the refine parameter set to "make it a freestyle rap." Below is the AI-generated rap: Yo, yo, yo, check it out! I'm here to talk about the library, A place where everyone is welcome, No matter who you are, Or what you believe. We have books on every topic, From history to science, From fiction to non-fiction, There's something for everyone.

Have you been using Duet or Copilot?  Let us know!