Google Docs: a new AI-powered proofreading tool

Google Docs already offers a spelling and grammar checker that analyzes your documents for typos and grammar errors. But Google is launching a more advanced tool, based on artificial intelligence, designed to make your documents more readable. Unveiled on Tuesday, the new tool, named Proofread, can analyze the style, tone and readability of your documents in order to suggest ways to improve them.

On the other hand, Proofread is not available for all Google Docs users, or even for all Google Workspace customers. The tool is limited to Google Workspace Enterprise customers and only through an add-on to the company’s Duet AI product, at least for now.

A Google spokesperson did not give further details, but told ZDNET by email that “other offers will be launched over the coming months for other customer segments, including small and medium-sized businesses and the general public”.

Proofread may be interesting to explore to see if it can improve the quality of your documents

If your company or organization uses Duet AI, Proofread may be interesting to explore to see if it can improve the quality of your documents.

In addition to the usual spelling and grammar checks, Proofread will offer you the following types of suggestions:

• Conciseness : Make your writings more concise and succinct.
• Active voice : Make your text clearer for your readers.
• Formulation : Make words more dynamic or more formal in the right context.
• 
  
  Splitting sentences : Separate long and complex sentences to make your document easier to read.

Google

The suggestions made by Proofread are only suggestions. As with any spelling or grammar checker, you can examine each of them and accept or reject them. All suggested changes appear in the Proofread sidebar, so that they do not encroach on the text of your document. In addition, you can use filters to control and limit the types of suggestions you see.

Google Docs, Google Slides and Gmail all offer an AI-powered option

If the replay add-on is enabled, the option is enabled by default. However, users can enable or disable it in Google Documents by going to Tools and selecting Proofreading. To open the proofreading sidebar, just click on the icon representing an A and a check mark. A blue dot appears next to the icon when writing suggestions are waiting for you.

With all the hype around artificial intelligence, Google has been trying to integrate AI into many of its key products. Google Docs, Google Slides and Gmail all offer an AI-powered option to help you write or rewrite a text based on your own description. Google Labs allows you to play with generative AI in the Google search engine and in the Google workspace. Finally, Google Bard is the company’s own chatbot, based on AI, designed to help you find information and generate content.

Source: “ZDNet.com “