Choose an AI tool for workplace tasks

Study guide for Generative AI Leader, Unit 2 · Topic 3. This is the topic's lecture in reading form — every slide's teaching, figures and worked examples, in order — followed by the official Google Cloud pages its claims rest on.

What the exam guide asks, quoted. Recognizing the functionality, use cases, and business value of the Gemini app and Gemini Advanced (e.g., Gems). Recognizing the functionality, use cases, and business value of Gemini Enterprise (e.g., Gemini Notebook API, multimodal search, and custom agent capabilities). Recognizing the functionality, use cases, and business value of Gemini for Google Workspace.

This hive's learning objectives for the topic:

1. Match Gemini app and Gems use cases to current account and subscription scope, retaining the guide term Gemini Advanced.
2. Recognize Gemini Enterprise search, notebook and custom-agent use cases with edition and preview boundaries.
3. Match Gemini for Google Workspace assistance to work within Workspace applications.

Choosing an AI tool for workplace tasks

The Gemini app, Gemini Enterprise and Gemini in Workspace: which fits

Gemini app — a general assistant at work, customised with Gems (now becoming skills). Gemini Enterprise — search, an assistant and agents over the organization's own systems. Gemini in Workspace — help inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet. Pick by where the work happens and which data it needs.

This topic is about Google's prebuilt generative artificial intelligence, or AI, tools for everyday work, and the skill the exam wants is matching a task to the right one. The guide names three. The Gemini app — the guide also uses the name Gemini Advanced, and mentions Gems as an example — which Google describes as an everyday AI assistant at work for routine and complex tasks. Gemini Enterprise, which Google calls an intranet search, AI assistant and agentic platform over data from across your organization. And Gemini for Google Workspace, which brings assistance into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Chat. One change is under way: Google's Workspace Help says skills will replace Gems in 2027. Two questions settle most scenarios: where does the work happen, and which data does it need?

The Gemini app at work, and Gems

A general assistant; the account you use decides the terms

• Everyday AI assistant at work: learning, brainstorming, planning
• Deep research: a comprehensive report on a complex topic
• With most Workspace editions: a core service with enterprise protections
• Without a qualifying edition: Google's consumer terms apply
• Gems: a customized Gemini for repeatable tasks — now becoming skills

Worked example (synthetic). A consultant drafts client research in the Gemini app using a personal account. Her firm's Workspace edition would give the same app enterprise-grade data protections; the personal account does not.

The first objective is the Gemini app — which the guide also calls Gemini Advanced — and its Gems. Google's Workspace Help describes the Gemini app as your everyday artificial intelligence, or AI, assistant at work for routine and complex tasks: you can kickstart learning, brainstorming, planning and more on a laptop or mobile device, and use deep research to explore complex topics and get a comprehensive, easy-to-read report. The scope of what applies depends on the account. Google says the Gemini app as a core service with enterprise-grade data protections is available with most Google Workspace editions, and that users without a qualifying Workspace edition are subject to the Google Terms of Service and the Gemini Apps Privacy Notice. For qualifying work accounts, Google says submissions aren't used to train models and are not reviewed by humans. Gems are the customisation feature the guide names: a Gem is a customized version of Gemini that helps you tackle repetitive tasks or get deep expertise in new areas, and shared Gems are stored in Google Drive, so Drive's sharing settings apply to them. Note the change Google announced in Workspace Help: skills are the new method for custom instructions, and skills will replace Gems in 2027.

Same app, different scope

Which account the work runs in decides which terms apply

Worked example (synthetic). An operations manager asks whether staff may paste supplier contracts into the Gemini app. The answer depends on whether they sign in with the company's qualifying Workspace account.

This table is the account-scope part of the objective, in the words Google's Workspace Help uses. With a qualifying Workspace edition, the Gemini app is a core service with enterprise-grade data protections. Without one, the Google Terms of Service and the Gemini Apps Privacy Notice apply — a different set of terms for the same app. For an organization's most active artificial intelligence users, Google describes an add-on, AI Expanded Access, to supplement an existing plan with higher access to the Gemini app, Gemini Notebook, advanced image and video generation and more. And for a task people repeat, a Gem — a customized version of Gemini — is the tool the guide names, with skills now taking over that role. The exam's version of this question is usually a policy question in disguise: the right tool is the one used under the right account.

From Gems to skills

The guide names Gems; Google is moving custom instructions to skills

Figure. Two cards. Gems: a customized version of Gemini for repetitive tasks or deep expertise, used in the Gemini app, cannot be used in Workspace apps, shared through Google Drive. Skills: the new method for custom AI instructions, working in both the Gemini app and Workspace apps with one instruction model, in an open Markdown-based format. A band beneath notes that Google Workspace Help, last updated 30 September 2026, says skills will replace Gems in 2027, and that Gems can still be created and used in the Gemini app for now.

Worked example (synthetic). A sales team built a Gem that drafts proposal outlines. Because Gems can't run inside Docs, its lead plans to rebuild it as a skill so the same instructions work where the proposals are written.

The guide was written when Gems were Google's way to customise the Gemini app, and Google has since announced a successor. In Workspace Help, last updated the thirtieth of September 2026, Google says it is introducing skills as the new method for custom artificial intelligence, or AI, instructions in the Gemini app and Google Workspace, and that skills will replace Gems in 2027. The practical difference is where each works. Gems can't be used in Workspace apps; skills work in the Gemini app and in Workspace apps, giving users a consistent instruction model across chat and workflows. For now, users can continue creating and using Gems in the Gemini app. For the exam, recognise Gems for what the guide says they are — a customized version of Gemini for repeatable work. For planning, know that the same need is moving to skills.

Gemini Enterprise: search, assistant and agents over company data

One place to find, ask and act across the organization's systems

• Multimodal search with permissions-aware access to company information
• Prebuilt connectors to apps such as Jira, Confluence and SharePoint
• An assistant grounded in the company's own data stores
• Agents: prebuilt ones in the Agent Gallery, custom ones via Workflow Builder
• Gemini Notebook Enterprise: research grounded in your sources

Worked example (synthetic). A support lead wants answers that draw on tickets in Jira and runbooks in Confluence, respecting who may see what. That is Gemini Enterprise's job, not the Gemini app's.

The second objective is Gemini Enterprise. Google describes it as an intranet search, artificial intelligence, or AI, assistant and agentic platform that empowers knowledge workers with generative AI and agentic workflows by leveraging data sources from across your organization. Its search gives employees a single, multimodal search interface offering permissions-aware access to enterprise information, and it reaches beyond Google's tools through prebuilt connectors for third-party applications like Confluence, Jira, Microsoft SharePoint and ServiceNow. Its assistant is grounded with the content in your data stores and adheres to defined security, privacy and compliance safeguards. For agents, you can use out-of-the-box agents in the Agent Gallery, or create your own custom agents with Workflow Builder, which Google calls an interactive no-code, low-code platform. The guide's notebook example is Gemini Notebook Enterprise, a highly compliant, enterprise-ready version of Gemini Notebook that grounds its responses in the documents you add — and Google notes the personal Gemini Notebook lacks the compliance and administrative features enterprise environments need.

Which Gemini Enterprise capability for which need

Find, ask, act, research — four needs, four capabilities

Worked example (synthetic). A bank's research team keeps 40 regulatory PDFs for a project. A notebook grounded in exactly those documents fits better than a company-wide search.

The table maps four needs to Gemini Enterprise's capabilities. To find information scattered across systems, use its search — a single, multimodal search interface with permissions-aware access, fed by connectors to third-party apps. To ask questions of company knowledge, use the assistant, which is grounded with the content in your data stores. To automate a multi-step task, use agents: prebuilt ones from the Agent Gallery, or your own built in Workflow Builder. To study a defined set of sources in depth, use Gemini Notebook Enterprise, which grounds its responses in the documents you add and keeps your data within your Google Cloud project. The guide's three examples — the notebook, multimodal search and custom agents — are three of these four rows.

Edition and preview boundaries

What a user can do depends on the edition and the launch stage

Worked example (synthetic). A retailer gives store staff Frontline seats and expects them to build their own agents. They can't: Frontline users only reach agents their administrator provisioned.

The objective adds edition and preview boundaries, and Google's documentation draws them clearly. Gemini Enterprise is available in several editions, organized so that each provides a specific set of features and capabilities tailored to different use cases and stages of adoption; the Business edition even has its own Help Center. Edition decides what a user can do. For example, with Gemini Enterprise Frontline, users can only access previously-developed agents that have been provisioned for them by their administrator, and Frontline users can install skills themselves from Browse skills rather than creating their own. Launch stage matters too: you can enable Gemini Notebook Enterprise as a data source in Gemini Enterprise, and Google labels that a Public Preview feature. A plan that relies on a capability should check both the edition it is buying and whether the feature is generally available.

Gemini for Google Workspace: help inside the apps

Assistance where the document, email or meeting already is

• Side panel in Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drive and Chat
• Help me write: draft and refine documents and emails
• Meet: notes taken for you, and speech translation
• Slides images, Sheets organization, and Vids for video
• Availability depends on the Workspace subscription

Worked example (synthetic). A project manager needs a status email from a long shared document. Gemini in the Gmail side panel can draw on the document without her switching tabs.

The third objective is Gemini for Google Workspace, and its defining idea is help inside the app where the work already is. The side panel is available in Gmail, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Drive and Google Chat, and with it Gemini can assist with summarizing, analyzing and generating content using insights from your emails, documents and more, all without switching applications or tabs. In Google Docs and Gmail, Gemini helps write and refine documents and emails. In Google Meet, it can automatically capture meeting notes so you can focus on the conversation, and speech translation removes language proficiency barriers. Gemini in Google Slides creates custom images, in Google Sheets it helps organize and process spreadsheet data, and Vids makes it easy to create and collaborate on videos. One boundary to remember: Gemini feature availability is based on your Google Workspace subscription.

Workspace task to Gemini feature

Name the app and the task, and the feature follows

Worked example (synthetic). Invented case: a multinational team meets weekly in two languages and nobody takes minutes. Speech translation and Take notes for me in Meet address both problems in the app they already use.

Read the table as task, app, feature. To draft or refine an email or document, Help me write in Gmail and Docs. To summarize across emails and files without leaving your work, the side panel, which draws on insights from your emails and documents. To keep notes during a call, Take notes for me in Meet, which automatically captures meeting notes. To talk across languages, Meet's speech translation. To organize data or create visuals, Gemini in Sheets to organize and process data, and in Slides to create custom images. Scenarios that name a Workspace app usually point to the Gemini feature inside that app rather than to a separate tool.

Which workplace tool, in what order

Where the work happens, then which data it needs

Figure: A left-to-right decision flowchart. A workplace task inside a Workspace app goes to Gemini in that app. Otherwise, if it needs data from many company systems, Gemini Enterprise with its search, assistant and agents. Otherwise, if it is grounded in a fixed set of sources, Gemini Notebook. Otherwise, the Gemini app.

Worked example (synthetic). Four requests arrive: polish a memo in Docs, find every contract mentioning a supplier across SharePoint and Drive, study ten audit reports, and brainstorm a team offsite. They map to Docs, Gemini Enterprise, a notebook and the Gemini app.

Put the three objectives together as an order of questions. Is the task inside a Workspace app? Then Gemini in that app — the side panel is available across Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drive and Chat. If not, does it need data from many company systems? Then Gemini Enterprise, whose search, assistant and agents use data sources from across your organization through connectors. If not, is the work grounded in a fixed set of sources? Then a notebook, because Gemini Notebook grounds its responses in the documents you add. Otherwise, the Gemini app — the everyday artificial intelligence, or AI, assistant for routine and complex tasks, used under the right work account. The question order matters because the earlier tools sit closer to the work.

What this topic actually tests

Match the task to the tool, and the tool to the account

Gemini app — a general assistant; the work account brings enterprise protections; Gems customise it, skills replace them. Gemini Enterprise — search, assistant and agents across company systems, within edition and preview limits. Gemini in Workspace — help inside the app where the work is.

Close with three matches. The Gemini app — the guide's Gemini Advanced — is the general assistant; under a qualifying Workspace edition it is a core service with enterprise-grade data protections, Gems customise it, and skills will replace Gems in 2027. Gemini Enterprise is search, an assistant and agents across the organization's systems, with editions and preview stages that bound what each user can do. Gemini for Google Workspace is help inside the app where the email, document or meeting already is. When an exam scenario names the place the work happens and the data it needs, the right tool follows. The next topic turns from employees to customers: search and customer engagement.

Official sources for this topic

• Google Workspace with Gemini — Google Workspace Help
• What is Gemini Enterprise? — Google Cloud
• About the transition from Gems to skills — Google Workspace Help
• Turn the Gemini app on or off — Google Workspace Help
• Turn Gem sharing on or off — Google Workspace Help
• Gemini Enterprise concepts — Google Cloud
• Workflow Builder overview — Gemini Enterprise
• What is Gemini Notebook Enterprise? — Google Cloud
• Compare editions of Gemini Enterprise — Google Cloud