How to Use Google's Latest Gemini AI Features in Your Daily Life

You open your inbox in the morning only to find fifty unread emails, a disorganised shopping list, and a half-planned weekend trip waiting for your attention. Google's newly expanded Gemini AI tools are designed to step in right where you already work and browse, turning those messy digital chores into quick, simple tasks.

These features are rolling out directly into the free Google tools you likely use every day, including Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Search. Here is how you can start using these tools to make your daily routine a little lighter.

Finding answers with multimodal search

Searching the internet is no longer just about typing keywords into a box. With the latest updates, Google Search has become multimodal (the ability of an AI to understand different types of information, like text, images, and video all at once).

Imagine you are trying to fix a leaky kitchen tap. Instead of trying to describe the exact make and model of the tap in a text search, you can now take a short video of the leak and ask, "How do I fix this part?" The AI analyses the video, recognises the tap model, and provides a step-by-step guide with relevant links to local hardware options.

To try this, open the Google app on your phone, tap the camera icon in the search bar, and hold down the shutter button to record a brief video while speaking your question aloud.

Streamlining your inbox and documents

If you use Google Docs or Gmail, you will notice a sparkling Gemini icon appearing in the top right-hand corner of your screen. Clicking this opens a side panel where you can chat with the AI about your documents and emails.

This panel is particularly handy for catching up on long email threads. Rather than reading dozens of replies to find out what time a school committee meeting is, you can give the AI a prompt (the written instruction or question you give to the AI).

Try opening a long thread and typing this into the side panel: "Summarise the key decisions made in this thread and list any action items for me." Within seconds, you will have a neat, bulleted list. You can also use this panel in Google Docs to write a polite reply, draft a newsletter, or even brainstorm ideas for a birthday party.

Planning trips and schedules

Planning an itinerary can take hours of jumping between different browser tabs. Google is introducing AI agents (smart assistants designed to complete multi-step tasks on your behalf, rather than just answering one-off questions) to do this heavy lifting for you.

You can ask Gemini to design a complete schedule for you. For example, you might type: "Plan a three-day weekend trip to Hobart for a family of four, focusing on outdoor activities and gluten-free dining, and organise it into a daily schedule."

The AI will research flights, find popular spots that fit your criteria, and organise the information into a clear table. You can then ask it to export this schedule straight into a Google Doc or a calendar invite with a single click.

Wrap-up

The latest updates to Google’s AI tools mean you do not need to learn a complicated new program to benefit from