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AI chatbots like ChatGPT are fun on their own, but their greatest benefits come out when you plug them into existing programs — as evidenced by a promising new plugin for Google Slides.
A new Google Workspace app called Magic slides (opens in new tab) combines OpenAI’s GPT technology with Google’s presentation app to give us an idea of how much easier it will soon be to build a series of slides. To get started, you only need one of OpenAI’s API keys, which you can generate in your account by going to ‘view API keys’.
Once installed, the extension adds a sidebar to Google Slides where you can type in the topic you’re presenting followed by the total number of slides you’re aiming for. You can also type in additional information you’d like to see in addition to the general tone you want (for example, professional or funny).
Hit generate and the extension creates a pretty decent concept presentation that you can edit and work with. It’s not perfect – the tool doesn’t yet design the slides for you or catch up with any of the many third-party Google Slides themes available.
But those features are apparently on their way and it gives us a hint of what’s to come soon. Google Bard, the equivalent of the search giant’s ChatGPT, isn’t baked into Google Search yet, but will appear “in the coming weeks.”
And like the many ways ChatGPT can transform Microsoft Office, some of those talents will inevitably seep into Google Workspace apps like Google Sheets, Sheets, and Docs. Given how useful this third-party extension already looks, we can’t wait.
Analytics: A Glimpse of AI’s Time-Saving Skills
Talking to AI chatbots, such as the ChatGPT-powered Bing, is fascinating and fun, but their biggest influence will likely be in specialized tools we already use, such as presentation tools and spreadsheet programs.
In their current form, neither ChatGPT nor Google Bard can reliably create complete Google Sheets presentations for us. But as this Sheets extension shows, they can already create solid first drafts for us to work with – and that’s an exciting glimpse into their time-saving potential.
This is why both Microsoft and Adobe refer to AI tools as creative “co-pilots.” Don’t think of the tools as a substitute for human creativity or productivity either – and recent issues with the new Bing have shown that the technology is far from polished enough to really rely on for serious work.
But games like ChatGPT are developing faster than expected. And in the meantime, their ability to speed up the creation process in the likes of Google Slides and Microsoft Excel could see those programs make their biggest usability leaps in years.