Are Google’s AI tools just embracing Clippy’s dream?

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Microsoft’s virtual assistant Clippy “isn’t coming back,” writes The Verge, “but its spirit – now powered by artificial intelligence – lives on…” The words “look like you’re writing a letter, would you like one any help with that?” it didn’t appear at any time during Google’s recent demo of its AI office suite tools. But as I watched Google Workspace leader Aparna Pappu outline the feature on stage at I/O, I was reminded of a certain animated paper clip that another tech giant hoped would help usher in a new era of office work …

New to Presentation I/O was Sidekick, a feature designed to figure out what you’re working on, pull details from all of Google’s different apps, and present you with clear information to use as notes or even incorporate directly into your work. If Google’s Duet is designed to address the horror of a blank document, then Sidekick seems to be looking forward to a future where a black AI request box could instead be the intimidating first hurdle. “What if AI could proactively give you suggestions?” Pappu said as he introduced the new feature. “Even better, what if these suggestions were actually contextual and changed based on what you were working on…?”

Sidekick was shown summarizing a chain of emails. When prompted, he was able to pull specific details from an associated Sheets spreadsheet and put them into an emailed response. And finally, on Slides, Sidekick suggested generating speaker notes that the presenter can read while showing the slides.

The feature feels like a modern twist on Clippy, Microsoft’s old assistant that would kick in at the mere hint of activity in a Word document to ask if you wanted help with tasks like writing a letter. But perhaps more important is how Sidekick has been shown to offer this information. In Google’s demonstration, the Sidekick is summoned by the user and doesn’t appear until they press its he icon. This is important since one of the things that annoyed people the most about Clippy was that he didn’t shut up. “These toon-zombies insist on reappearing as Wile E. Coyote,” noted The New York Times in its original Office 97 review.

While they share some similarities, Clippy and Sidekick are from two very different computing eras. It brings back memories of that Saturday Night Live skit about Microsoft Word’s new assistant, Pushie the pushpin…

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