Bringing AI into Google Workspace: Gemini, Claude and Beyond

A professional using Google Workspace AI tools including Gemini and Claude on a laptop in a modern office, representing Google Workspace AI for Australian SMEs.

A lot of the conversation about AI at work assumes everyone is running Microsoft 365. That is understandable given how aggressively Microsoft has pushed Copilot, but it leaves a sizeable group of Australian businesses without much practical guidance. If your team runs on Google Workspace, you have access to a serious and fast-moving set of AI capabilities. The question is how to use them well.

This article covers what is actually available in Google Workspace today, how Claude fits alongside native Google AI, and what a sensible approach looks like for an SME that wants to move beyond ad hoc experimentation.

What Gemini now includes in Google Workspace

The most important change in the last twelve months is pricing. Google bundled Gemini AI features into Business Standard and above plans in January 2025, removing the need for a separate add-on. Businesses on Business Standard that previously paid extra for the Gemini add-on now get the same AI features as part of their standard subscription. That shift removes the “we will evaluate it later” argument for many teams.

What you actually get depends on your plan tier, but Business Standard and above includes Gemini in the side panel of Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Google Meet. The practical day-to-day uses are solid:

Summarise long email threads and draft replies in Gmail without switching context.
Generate first drafts in Docs, drawing from other files already in your Drive.
Build and auto-populate spreadsheet structures in Sheets using plain-language prompts.
Take AI-generated meeting notes in Meet, so someone does not have to be the designated note-taker.
Search across Drive using natural language and get an AI summary of results, rather than opening individual files one by one.

None of these are novelties. Teams that are actively using them report real time savings on the kind of routine information work that fills up a working week.

Workspace Studio and where things are heading

The more significant development for productivity-focused teams is Workspace Studio, which reached general availability in December 2025. It is Google’s no-code automation tool built directly into Workspace. You describe a workflow in plain English and Workspace Studio builds it, without any scripting or developer involvement.

Practical examples include automatically labelling incoming emails by category, generating a pre-meeting briefing document from your calendar and Drive files, or creating a follow-up task document after every recorded meeting. These are the kinds of processes that currently eat 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there across a team, and they are now automatable without touching a line of code.

In April 2026, Google went further with the announcement of Workspace Intelligence at its Cloud Next conference. Workspace Intelligence creates a shared context layer that maps emails, chats, files, calendar events and active projects so Gemini-powered agents can understand what a team is actually working on, not just respond to individual prompts. The intent is to shift Workspace from a collection of separate apps into something that can reason across all of them at once. Parts of this are still rolling out, but the direction is clear.

Where Claude fits in a Google Workspace environment

Gemini is the native AI in Workspace, but it is not the only option. In April 2025, Anthropic launched a direct Google Workspace integration for Claude, connecting it to Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive. Claude can search emails, review documents and check calendar commitments without users needing to manually copy content into a chat window. It mirrors the existing permissions of whoever is using it, so Claude cannot access anything a user cannot already see in Workspace.

The integration requires an administrator to enable it at the organisation level before individual users can connect their accounts. That admin-gate is useful for businesses that want to control which staff have AI access to company data, and it means individual users cannot go around a deliberate policy decision.

Why would a team running Workspace want Claude alongside Gemini? A few consistent reasons come up:

Writing quality and tone. Some teams find Claude produces more nuanced long-form writing, particularly for client-facing documents, proposals and policy drafts.
Research tasks. Claude’s Research feature can combine internal Workspace context with live web search, building answers that draw on both your own files and current external information.
Model preference by task. Gemini handles the everyday embedded tasks well; Claude suits more intensive analytical or writing work where the output needs closer attention.

This kind of split is increasingly common. Using AI effectively in your business rarely means picking one tool and ignoring everything else. The more practical approach is knowing which tool is right for which job.

Data, privacy and what to check before enabling

Both Google and Anthropic have made explicit commitments about how business data is handled. Google states that Workspace customer data is not used to train Gemini models or for advertising. Anthropic states that data accessed through Google Workspace connectors is not used for model training on Team or Enterprise plans.

That said, enabling any AI integration that touches email, calendar or documents is a decision that warrants some thought, particularly for businesses that handle client confidential information. A few things worth checking before you turn these features on:

Does your current privacy policy cover AI tools accessing employee and client communications?
Do any client contracts or professional obligations restrict how their information can be processed?
Have you reviewed the admin controls available in the Google Workspace Admin Console for managing which users have AI access?
For Claude specifically, has an administrator reviewed the connector settings and confirmed the access scope is appropriate?

Australia’s Privacy Act applies to how personal information is handled, including through third-party tools. The Australian Government’s National AI Plan, released in December 2025, signals a standards-led approach rather than prescriptive legislation for now, but that does not mean businesses should skip the governance steps. A short internal review before deployment is a lot easier than explaining a gap in your process after the fact.

Getting practical: a starting point for Google Workspace AI

For most SMEs, the sensible starting point is the AI that is already paid for. If your organisation is on Google Workspace Business Standard or above, Gemini is already included. The most common blocker is not cost or capability, it is that many teams simply have not turned the features on or told staff how to use them.

A structured rollout does not need to be complicated:

Check your Workspace plan tier and confirm which Gemini features are active in your Admin Console.
Identify two or three repetitive tasks that cost your team time each week, such as meeting notes, email summaries or document first drafts.
Run a short trial with a willing team or individual, gather honest feedback on what is actually saving time.
Set a basic policy on what kinds of information should and should not be passed through AI tools, including a note on client confidentiality.
Revisit in 60 days. What is working gets kept; what is not gets dropped or adjusted.

Adding Claude into the mix is a reasonable next step for teams that want a different model for specific tasks. The Google Workspace integration makes it accessible without requiring any technical setup beyond the admin enabling the connectors. Starting with a small group of users and a defined use case, such as client proposal writing or research briefs, gives you something concrete to evaluate before rolling it out broadly.

A quick check before you start

If you are thinking about expanding AI use in your Workspace environment, these questions are worth a conversation:

Do you know which Gemini features are currently active in your Workspace subscription?
Does your team have any guidance on what is and is not appropriate to put through an AI tool?
Have you reviewed admin controls for third-party AI connectors like Claude?
Is there a process for reviewing AI-generated outputs before they go to clients or external parties?
Is anyone in your business keeping track of what AI tools staff are using independently?

Where do we start?

We work with clients across Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and mixed environments. If you are not sure what AI capabilities you already have access to, or you want to put some sensible structure around how your team uses AI tools, we are happy to have a practical conversation. Get in touch with the TTA team and we can take it from there. You can also read more about our approach to IT consulting and how we help businesses get the most out of the tools they already have.