Spend too much time scheduling meetings? This Gemini feature could save you the hassle

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Google announced a new "Help me schedule" feature. It enables Gemini to schedule meeting times suggested in Gmail. The feature only works with individual contacts. You may already be using Google's Gemini to help you draft emails, create presentations, and write up reports on Docs. Now the AI-powered productivity tool is making its way to your calendar. Also: How to turn off Gemini in your Gmail, Docs, Photos, and more - it's easy to opt out Gmail's "Help me schedule" feature utilizes Gemini to automatically set meeting times with people whose calendars you cannot view. According to Google, this feature should eliminate the need to send multiple emails to coordinate meeting times, especially with people who don't make their calendars visible to others. How it works If someone sends you an email requesting a one-hour catch-up, Gemini will suggest time slots that align with your schedule. Then, you can edit the suggested time slots, insert them within your email, and send them to the recipient. Once they pick a time, Gemini will automatically add the meeting to both participants' calendars. This feature only works when both participants are communicating via Gmail and using Google Calendar to schedule meetings. Additionally, this feature is limited to scheduling meetings with individual contacts, and does not work for multiple people or group meetings. AI and productivity This feature is just the latest of multiple Gemini-powered productivity tools Google has announced recently. This year alone, Google announced that users can share Gemini Gems (custom AI agents), use Gemini to catch up on changes to Docs, Slides, and Sheets, and have Gemini clear out their Gmail inbox. Also: Use Google Chat? Gemini can edit your messages now Companies like Google and Microsoft are heavily investing in creating AI-powered productivity tools for the workplace, aiming to enable employees to focus less on tedious, monotonous, or repetitive tasks. Want more stories about AI? Sign up for AI Leaderboard, our weekly newsletter. Recent research suggests that Google's Gemini and Microsoft's Copilot are the top two AI systems that utilize agentic AI, which employs machine learning models to emulate real-time human decision-making and solve problems. The same research asserts that this type of AI system will significantly impact enterprise operations by enabling automated problem-solving with minimal human oversight. These AI agents are becoming ubiquitous in the digital workspace, spanning collaborative chat rooms, emails, online meeting rooms, and cloud-based developer tools. Also: Microsoft Copilot AI can now pull information directly from Outlook, Gmail, and other apps At the same time, however, most businesses are struggling to see the ROI on AI tools, even as usage is increasing, according to new research from Atlassian. Other studies confirm the same concerns.