Google’s powerful ‘Deep Research’ Gemini AI arrives in Workspace

Google’s thoughtful AI research partner, Deep Research, is now available to Google Workspace users, Google said Thursday. And that’s not all: Google Workspace users who sign up for Gemini Advanced can try other, experimental AI models, too.

On Tuesday, Google announced that Gemini Advanced with Deep Research is now accessible by mobile users. On Thursday, Google migrated Gemini Advanced with Deep Research to Workspace users as well, provided that the Workspace subscription includes the extra Gemini Advanced subscription. Before this, Deep Research was only available in Gemini Advanced on the web, for $20 per month. 

Why use it? Google’s Workspace blog suggests that a salesperson could use Gemini Advanced with Deep Research to prepare a report on a prospective client, or a teacher could use it with lesson planning — similar to what Google said Deep Research could do when it was originally announced. Deep Research on Workspace hasn’t changed its methodology, either. Before it sets out to research the problem — which can take several minutes — it prepares a “plan” of what it will do and where it will look. Users can then copy or otherwise incorporate Gemini Advanced’s findings into a Google Docs document.

Reasoned, analytical research is the hot trend in AI; earlier this month, OpenAI announced “deep research” within ChatGPT, which now uses a multi-step research process to scour the web for answers. Google actually showed off its own Deep Research for Gemini in December, part of a $20/mo Gemini Advanced service. But while OpenAI charges $200/mo for ChatGPT Pro’s access to Deep Research, Perplexity.ai announced a lighter, faster version this week for free.

It appears that Workspace users will receive the same version of Workspace with Deep Research that Google unveiled in December, given that a list of models Workspace will have access to links back to Google’s December announcement.

In addition to Deep Research, Workspace users will also have access to Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, announced on Feb. 5. Flash Thinking Experimental “shows its work” by breaking down the task into steps. (A second “with Apps” model can directly access YouTube and Search, but Workspace users at work or school will not have access to it.) A related Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental “Pro” model is also available to Workspace subscribers, with better performance at math prompts.

Google said separately that its Meet app would also add an AI improvement: timestamped transcripts. If Meet’s AI summary references something happening during the call, it will add a timestamped reference so that you can review the actual discussion.