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Google Chat redesign brings new homescreen, audio huddles, and Duet AI

As previously reported, Google Chat is getting a UI redesign as well as Duet AI features at Cloud Next 2023.

It starts with a unified conversation list that shows both direct messages and Spaces. You will also get side drawer “Shortcuts” to the chronological Home view, @mentions, and starred messages. Early next year, the home view will become “smarter and more dynamic” by intelligently prioritizing messages “based on your communication patterns.”

Search in Google Chat benefits from a redesigned result page that leverages AI-based relevance ranking with suggested queries, autocomplete, and “did-you-mean” suggestions.

Google today only shared the UI for the website, but these updates will also be coming to Android and iOS.

The compose field is adding support for smart chips that let you quickly share files by pulling up the @-menu.

Google Chat will now support up to 500,000 participants in Spaces, marking a 10x increase, while the messages views will provide a “snapshot” of the engagement in a Space. The idea is to let large organizations “host their entire workforce in a single space,” with Google adding content moderation tools to the Admin console for reviewing incidents. By the end of the year, Google will also integrate Google Groups with Spaces to sync memberships.

Other updates include a new apps section in the conversation list and an updated Google Drive app/bot that lets you respond to comments and act on sharing requests.

You will be able to talk to Duet AI, with Google Chat aiming to answer “complex queries” by searching messages and files across Gmail and Drive. It can also summarize documents shared in Spaces and provide conversation recaps.

Meanwhile, in the top-right corner of conversations, there is a new “huddle” on/off toggle to quickly start a Google Meet call with everyone in the current chat. It starts on audio, but you have the option to switch to video. (If the name is familiar, there was a huddle calling feature in Google+.) Huddles will be entering public preview by year’s end.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com