Google held their I/O conference this week, and it's safe to say that it has resulted in mixed sentiments. While the upgrades and products Google showcased were undoubtedly exciting, the problem is that they're all to be expected sometime in the future. Still, whether or not you agree with their strategy, there's no denying that the Gemini-centric future looks promising, with announcements like Project Astra, Veo, Gemini upgrades in Workspace, Gemini Nano in Android, etc.

One such intriguing announcement you could have easily missed is that Google is working on introducing a Gemini-powered AI teammate. While it's still in prototype, it looks rather interesting.

This virtual teammate would have an identity, its own Workspace account, and a specific role and objectives that you can define for your organization.

It can undertake tasks like monitoring and tracking projects, analyzing data and identifying trends, organizing information, and providing context, among others, depending on its configuration.

Virtual AI Teammate, Chip. Source: Google

It can even be added to Spaces in Google Chats, so it can answer questions based on conversation histories.

Since Gemini now has a 1 million token context (with Google already testing a 2 million context window in preview), it's easy for the AI teammate to go through the chat history. The more chats, email threads, files, etc. that the virtual teammate would get access to, the more helpful it would become as it can reference the collective memory.

For example, you can ask it whether certain tasks were approved, or what were the main key points that were discussed and after going through the chat history, it'll answer your question.

It can even go above and beyond and flag any potential conflicts in schedules or tasks it finds and even help you come up with solutions. It has the potential to be a seriously good teammate! Maybe too good!

Source: Google

However, the teammate, Chip, demoed at the I/O Keynote was just that – a demo. Google says there's a lot to figure out before Gemini-powered AI teammates can become a reality. But it's definitely a promising aspect for the future.