Google will no longer charge Workspace customers an additional fee for Gemini, expanding access to generative AI (genAI) features in apps such as Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. At the same time, the company is increasing the price of Workspace subscriptions by a small amount.
“Google is disrupting a market while some application vendors are still trying to monetize generative AI,” said Wayne Kurtzman, research vice president for collaboration and communities at IDC. It’s an “unusually bold first move” by Google, one that “should result in paid user growth of their Workspace platform.
“We are moving to an economy where we will experience AI everywhere, so it makes sense that we see AI included in office and collaboration applications,” said Kurtzman.
Google launched its Gemini AI assistant (formerly Duet AI for Google Workspace) in August 2023. There were two main add-ons: Gemini Business priced at $20 per user per month, and Gemini Enterprise, which cost $30 per user per month. Each represented a significant outlay for Workspace customers on top of their core subscriptions; Google later introduced more affordable add-on options that provided a limited set of genAI tools: AI Meetings and Messages and AI Security, both costing $10 per user a month.
All of those subscription costs will end as of March 17, Google said in a blog postWednesday.
Instead, Gemini features will be included in regular paid Workspace plans from the Business Standard plan upwards. That will allow access to Gemini in the side panel of several Workspace apps, as well as automated note taking in Meet video calls, image generation in Docs and Slides, and access to the NotebookLM Plus app.
(Google has a detailed list of the AI features available and coming soon to each payment plan at its admin help site here.)
At the same time, the price of payment plans will increase. Business Standard will rise from $12 to $14 per user each month when paid on an annual basis; Business Plus customers will see a more substantial increase — from $18 to $22 per user a month. The Business Starter plan, which will provide access to limited Gemini capabilities, will go from $6 to $7 per user a month.
Google doesn’t provide details on the Workspace Enterprise tier publically.
The change to pricing will begin today, Google said.
The move could be seen as the commodification of genAI; more than two years after ChatGPT 3.5 launched, AI assistant tools have become common and vendors have shifted their attention to more advanced AI agents. Or Google may have moved on from its attempt to convince customers to pay a premium for Gemini over and above the base subscription costs.
“While there’s an element of truth to both, Google’s sales channel and customers may well celebrate,” J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst on Forrester’s Future of Work team, said in a blog post about the announcement.
One implication of the decision is to make genAI tools available to all employees with access to Workspace; due to the high per-user cost, many customers might have been selective about handing out licenses, dividing knowledge workers into AI “haves” and “have-nots.”
“This pricing change effectively removes a company’s need to determine who will get an AI productivity boost, and who will not,” said Kurtzman. “This should expand the number of paid seats of Google Workspace, as the value prop of usability and AI are clear.”
It could also convince more companies to switch to the paid version of Workspace.
“Many companies still use the free version of Google Workspace to access collaborative features that their current applications do not support,” said Kurtzman. “The inclusion of AI and a price point much lower than many competitors should result in additional paid users to Google Workspace.”
Google’s move will clearly put pressure on Microsoft — which charges $30 per user a month for its M365 Copilot add-on — to follow suit, as well as other productivity software vendors that charge an extra fee for access to genAI capabilities. (Zoom is a notable exception, having included its AI Companion in its apps at no extra cost since launch.)
As the cost of running large language models (LLMs) drops, this is a natural direction of travel: Gartneranalysts have said they expect genAI features to be included at no extra cost in office software subscriptions by 2028, according to a recent report (subscription required), as vendors seek broader adoption of their tools.
Price cuts will likely spur wider adoption. Microsoft has found it difficult to convince large numbers of customers to adopt its M365 Copilot widely across their organizations, with subscription costs one of the barriers. Microsoft has already bundled Copilot into consumer M365 subscriptions in some countries and willlikely do the same for business customers eventually.
“How long can Microsoft hold the line — and for how long — on $30/user/month? We’re betting the pricing strategy evolves,” said Gownder.
Google will no longer charge Workspace customers an additional fee for Gemini, expanding access to generative AI (genAI) features in apps such as Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. At the same time, the company is increasing the price of Workspace subscriptions by a small amount.
“Google is disrupting a market while some application vendors are still trying to monetize generative AI,” said Wayne Kurtzman, research vice president for collaboration and communities at IDC. It’s an “unusually bold first move” by Google, one that “should result in paid user growth of their Workspace platform.
“We are moving to an economy where we will experience AI everywhere, so it makes sense that we see AI included in office and collaboration applications,” said Kurtzman.
Google launched its Gemini AI assistant (formerly Duet AI for Google Workspace) in August 2023. There were two main add-ons: Gemini Business priced at $20 per user per month, and Gemini Enterprise, which cost $30 per user per month. Each represented a significant outlay for Workspace customers on top of their core subscriptions; Google later introduced more affordable add-on options that provided a limited set of genAI tools: AI Meetings and Messages and AI Security, both costing $10 per user a month.
All of those subscription costs will end as of March 17, Google said in a blog postWednesday.
Instead, Gemini features will be included in regular paid Workspace plans from the Business Standard plan upwards. That will allow access to Gemini in the side panel of several Workspace apps, as well as automated note taking in Meet video calls, image generation in Docs and Slides, and access to the NotebookLM Plus app.
(Google has a detailed list of the AI features available and coming soon to each payment plan at its admin help site here.)
At the same time, the price of payment plans will increase. Business Standard will rise from $12 to $14 per user each month when paid on an annual basis; Business Plus customers will see a more substantial increase — from $18 to $22 per user a month. The Business Starter plan, which will provide access to limited Gemini capabilities, will go from $6 to $7 per user a month.
Google doesn’t provide details on the Workspace Enterprise tier publically.
The change to pricing will begin today, Google said.
The move could be seen as the commodification of genAI; more than two years after ChatGPT 3.5 launched, AI assistant tools have become common and vendors have shifted their attention to more advanced AI agents. Or Google may have moved on from its attempt to convince customers to pay a premium for Gemini over and above the base subscription costs.
“While there’s an element of truth to both, Google’s sales channel and customers may well celebrate,” J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst on Forrester’s Future of Work team, said in a blog post about the announcement.
One implication of the decision is to make genAI tools available to all employees with access to Workspace; due to the high per-user cost, many customers might have been selective about handing out licenses, dividing knowledge workers into AI “haves” and “have-nots.”
“This pricing change effectively removes a company’s need to determine who will get an AI productivity boost, and who will not,” said Kurtzman. “This should expand the number of paid seats of Google Workspace, as the value prop of usability and AI are clear.”
It could also convince more companies to switch to the paid version of Workspace.
“Many companies still use the free version of Google Workspace to access collaborative features that their current applications do not support,” said Kurtzman. “The inclusion of AI and a price point much lower than many competitors should result in additional paid users to Google Workspace.”
Google’s move will clearly put pressure on Microsoft — which charges $30 per user a month for its M365 Copilot add-on — to follow suit, as well as other productivity software vendors that charge an extra fee for access to genAI capabilities. (Zoom is a notable exception, having included its AI Companion in its apps at no extra cost since launch.)
As the cost of running large language models (LLMs) drops, this is a natural direction of travel: Gartneranalysts have said they expect genAI features to be included at no extra cost in office software subscriptions by 2028, according to a recent report (subscription required), as vendors seek broader adoption of their tools.
Price cuts will likely spur wider adoption. Microsoft has found it difficult to convince large numbers of customers to adopt its M365 Copilot widely across their organizations, with subscription costs one of the barriers. Microsoft has already bundled Copilot into consumer M365 subscriptions in some countries and willlikely do the same for business customers eventually.
“How long can Microsoft hold the line — and for how long — on $30/user/month? We’re betting the pricing strategy evolves,” said Gownder.
When you think about your smartphone, apps and interfaces are probably the first things that come to mind. Beneath all that surface-level stuff, though, our modern mobile devices are filled with files — folders upon folders of ’em! — just like the clunky ol’ computers we’ve relied upon for ages.
We may not come face to face with our phones’ file systems too often, but it’s valuable to know they’re there — and to know how they can work for us when the need arises. Whether you’re looking to dig up downloaded PDFs and presentations, open up ZIP files that a client emailed you, or move files from your phone to a computer, tablet, or even another Android phone or an iPhone, you’ve got all sorts of options to get down to business.
Here’s everything you need to know to tap into your phone’s file managing and transferring powers.
Manage files on your Android phone
You might not realize it at a glance, but Android actually allows you to access a device’s entire file system — even from the device itself.
The key is finding the right file manager to handle the job. That type of app makes it incredibly easy to browse, search, and interact with all the files stored locally on your device as well as clean up your local storage to free up space. You can even compress or uncompress files and add extra encryption onto especially sensitive items.
You’ll likely need just a single standout Android file manager to handle all of that and then some. I’ve narrowed down the field to two top contenders — one that’s the best all-around option for most professionals and one that offers an extra-advanced and robust file management experience with all sorts of interesting extras.
Check out my Android file manager recommendations and see which path makes the most sense for you, then keep whichever app you end up with handy for on-demand file-wrangling right from your device.
Supplement your phone’s local storage
One little-known feature of Android is its ability to connect with external storage devices like USB memory sticks and even larger-capacity portable hard drives. A phone just has to support something known as USB On-The-Go, or USB OTG, in order for the connection to work.
A fair number of devices, including Google’s Pixel phones and many Samsung Galaxy products, offer such support. If you aren’t sure if your phone does, your best bet is to Google its name along with “USB OTG”; odds are, you’ll find the answer fairly quickly.
Provided your device supports USB OTG, all you need is a USB-A to USB-C adapter like this one made by Amazon. Use the adapter to plug the external drive into your phone, then look for a notification confirming the drive is connected.
Tap the “Explore” option within the notification, and that’s it: You can now browse and access all the files on your external drive.
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Look for the notification that pops up when an external drive is connected, and you’ll be browsing the drive’s contents in no time.
JR Raphael / IDG
When you’re finished, don’t forget to go back to the notification and tap “Eject” before disconnecting the drive.
Android file transfers for Windows computers
In addition to supporting external hard drives, your Android device can act as an external hard drive for fast file transfers with any computer. And with a Windows system, it’s especially easy to make that connection.
Just plug your Android device into any open USB port on your Windows computer, then turn on the phone’s screen and unlock it.
Swipe your finger down from the top of the screen, and you should see a notification about the current USB connection. At this point, it’ll probably tell you your phone is connected only for charging.
After you connect your phone to your computer, a notification will let you prepare it for transferring files.
JR Raphael / IDG
Tap the notification and select “Transfer files” or “File transfer” in the menu that appears. If media files are all you’re planning to move, you could also use the “Transfer photos” (sometimes listed as “PTP”) option, which’ll treat your phone like a digital camera.
Once you’ve made your selection, go to your desktop and open up a File Explorer window — using whatever method lines up with your Windows workflow:
Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar
Open the Start menu and click This PC or Computer
Click the This PC, Computer, or My Computer icon on your desktop
Then look for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da: You’ll be staring at your Android phone’s internal storage. You can now click around and browse folders, drag and drop files between your phone and PC, or manipulate the data in any way you want — as if it were any other ordinary drive.
Android file transfers for Macs
Got a Mac? The Android file transfer process is a bit more complicated for you — but fear not, for it’s still reasonably easy to get going.
The main difference is that before things will work, you’ll need to download and install a program that’ll allow your Mac to interact with your Android device. Google used to have its own program for this purpose called Android File Transfer, but the company seems to have quietly phased that app out over time (which isn’t entirely surprising, as Mac owners had been complaining about its reliability for years).
What you’ll want instead is the favorably reviewed third-party Commander One. It costs $30 for a single license or $100 for a five-user team license. Once installed and configured, it’ll let you browse your Android device’s storage, transfer files in either direction, and even interact with data on the phone or tablet without transferring anything.
Or — well, skip down to the final section of this story for one other option.
Android file transfers for Chromebooks
You’d expect file transfers between Android phones and Chromebooks to be as simple as can be, considering that Google’s the driving force behind both of those platforms — and by golly, you’d be absolutely right.
Just like with Windows, all you’ve gotta do to connect your Android phone to a ChromeOS device is plug it into any open USB port on the computer, then tap the USB charging notification on the phone and select the appropriate option for file transferring.
Once you do that, a prompt to open the ChromeOS Files app should automatically appear on your Chromebook, with your phone loaded as the active storage focus. You can then simply drag and drop files in either direction as needed.
Pulling up your Android phone’s storage on a Chromebook is as easy as can be.
JR Raphael / IDG
Told ya it was easy! And you’ve got one more option yet.
Wireless Android file transfers
Good ol’ wired transfers are fast and reliable, sure — but these days, you can also opt to move files from your Android device to another Android device, a computer, or even (gasp!) an iPhone without needing any physical connection.
You’ve got a few possible paths worth considering here:
1. Quick Share (formerly Nearby Share)
Google’s own native-to-Android wireless sharing solution makes it effortless to beam files between any Android device and another Android device, a Chromebook, or a Windows computer. Just use the standard system share command within any app on Android, then select Quick Share from the list of options that pops up and follow the steps that show up to get started.
If the other device is running Android or ChromeOS, search its system settings for quick share to make sure it’s set up and ready to receive. If the other device is a Windows computer, download the official Google Quick Share Windows app to connect it.
And if the other device is running any other operating system, consider one of the next two wireless file-sharing strategies instead.
2. PairDrop
PairDrop is a free and open-source service that lets you wirelessly send files between any devices on the same network, no matter what operating system they’re running.
It works entirely on the web: All you’ve gotta do is open up the PairDrop website on both devices, then click the center area of the screen or drag and drop files to initiate a transfer.
PairDrop brings wireless file transferring to any devices across any platforms — Android, iOS, Mac, you name it.
JR Raphael / IDG
That’s it: No downloads, no sign-ups, no hassles whatsoever. And the service’s open-source code makes it clear that no data is ever stored or even touched by a remote server as part of the process.
3. Cloud storage
If PairDrop isn’t for you and Quick Share isn’t doing the trick, the time-tested tactic of embracing a middleman can get the job done.
Simply pick any cloud storage you like — Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or any other such service. Upload the files you want to transfer into a folder within the respective app on your Android phone, then find the folder within the same app on the receiving device (or vice-versa). Or, if the sharing involves other people, share the folder with them within the same cloud storage service app.
Android file transfer: Automatic syncing with a computer
Maybe you like having certain files stored locally on your Android phone, but you also want those files to be backed up and saved on your computer. The best of both worlds, right?
Believe it or not, this is actually quite easy to pull off. Just grab an Android app called AutoSync, which is available for use with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box. It’ll let you create pairings between a local folder on your phone and a cloud-based folder — for free with a single folder pair and files smaller than 10MB or for a one-time $5 payment without any real restrictions.
Install the appropriate computer-side app for whichever service you prefer, make sure it’s set to sync with your computer’s hard drive — and there ya have it: Your Android device’s folder is now effectively part of your PC.
You can even have the folders stay constantly synced in both directions — so if you add or update a file on the computer, the same changes will appear on your phone as well.
That’s a wrap!
Congratulations: You’ve officially earned the title of Android file master. (For real — you can even type it into a document, print it out, and tape it to your desk so everyone knows.)
Next up: Make sure you understand the ins and outs of Android backups. They’re ultimately made up of files, too, after all — and pretty important ones, at that.
This article was originally published in August 2017 and most recently updated in January 2025.
File management may not be the most exciting subject surrounding smartphone ownership — but if you use your device for productivity, my goodness, is it ever worth your while to chew over.
Your phone, after all, is your on-the-go connection to the world. It’s the always-available PC of our modern computing era. And whether your work involves presentations, PDFs, documents, or images, you’re bound to find yourself fumbling around with files on your pocket-sized screen sooner or later.
With the right tool for the job, though, managing files on your phone doesn’t have to be a hassle. Android’s got some outstanding file manager options, and best of all? You almost certainly only need one of ’em — a single standout file manager to handle all of your file-wrangling requirements.
Read on and see which path makes the most sense for you.
The best all-around Android file manager for most business users
First and foremost, if your Android file needs are fairly simple and straightforward, Files by Google — or Google Files, for short — is the Android file manager you want.
Google Files has come a long way since its inconspicuous 2017 debut. These days, Files is a fully featured file management tool, with all the basics you’d expect and some compelling extras — all packed into a nicely designed and easy-to-use interface that’s compatible with any Android device (even if it typically comes preinstalled only on Pixels).
At its core, Google Files makes it painless and almost even pleasant to browse through your phone’s local storage and find, share, or organize any files you’ve downloaded or transferred onto the device. The app lets you look through folders or sort items by type (documents, images, videos, and so on) and optionally move sensitive materials into an encrypted and password-protected Safe Folder.
It has a spectacular search system, too, including the ability to search for text that appears within PDFs, images, and documents on your device. It even offers a convenient way to send any locally stored files directly to Google Drive with a couple quick taps — though it doesn’t, curiously enough, actually let you browse and interact with your Drive storage or connect at all to any non-Google cloud services. If that sort of more robust all-in-one control center for handling both local and remote storage is what you’re after, the Android file manager in the next section will be more suitable for you.
Files by Google lets you browse your phone’s local storage and perform a variety of actions on folders and files.
JR Raphael / IDG
Google Files can open and now also create compressed archives, too, and it even has a handy built-in option for scanning physical documents on demand and saving ’em as neatly cropped PDF files.
All in all, Google Files is a well-rounded and intuitive file manager that handles all the file management tasks most business users will need on a phone. It’s a significant upgrade from the default file managers that come preinstalled on most non-Pixel Android devices, and if you don’t have any special requirements or advanced demands, it’s almost certainly the app for you.
For anyone who needs a little more mobile file management oomph, Solid Explorer is the way to go.
Solid Explorer has all the same file manipulation basics as Google’s Files app but adds in advanced options like the ability to encrypt files and even create password-protected ZIP collections. It’s also able to integrate with a wide variety of internet-based storage services — including Google Drive, along with Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and your own private servers — and then serve as a streamlined interface for managing all of your stuff and transferring data between different locations.
Solid Explorer is overflowing with advanced options for manipulating files and working with cloud storage.
JR Raphael / IDG
Solid Explorer has a clever two-panel interface for fuss-free dragging and dropping between locations, too — be they two local folders or a combination of local and cloud-based folders from any connected service. All you have to do is flip your phone sideways or open the app on a wide-screen tablet or foldable device for that setup to appear.
Solid Explorer’s smart two-panel interface allows you to view two folders together and drag and drop files between them.
JR Raphael / IDG
From variable-based batch renaming to folder bookmarking and even support for casting content to a TV or other Google-Cast-compatible display, Solid Explorer is just jam-packed with useful stuff — and yet it manages to remain reasonably simple and easy to use. (It also works exceptionally well on a Chromebook, and once you’ve bought it for your phone, you can install it onto any ChromeOS device without having to pay again.) The app’s advanced elements won’t be necessary for most people, but if your on-the-go work requires such next-level file management functions, Solid Explorer is the path to pursue.
Solid Explorer costs $3 after a free 14-day trial.
Beyond Android file managers
Important as they are, of course, Android file managers themselves are just one piece of the puzzle.
Google’s mobile operating system has some powerful native systems for beaming files between different devices, transferring files from your phone to a computer, and supplementing your phone’s local storage. With a few minutes of simple setup, you can even create special folders on your phone that automatically sync with matching folders in your favorite cloud storage service — and vice-versa.
Head over to my Android file management guide next to explore all the ins and outs of managing files on Android — including the easiest ways to wirelessly transfer files on the fly.
It may not be exciting, exactly, but you’d better believe it’ll make a world of difference.
This article was originally published in April 2018 and most recently updated in January 2025.
Technology innovations have made the digital transformation of public services essential to enhancing safety, efficiency, and accountability. Kazakhstan has taken a monumental step forward in this regard by implementing a continuous video surveillance system across 78 correctional facilities nationwide. This groundbreaking initiative has set a new benchmark for prison management, significantly improving safety conditions and operational transparency.
A digital leap for safer prisons
In response to a national mandate from the President in 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs launched a comprehensive video surveillance project. The system includes over 39,500 high-definition cameras strategically installed across correctional institutions and their perimeters. These cameras are connected to advanced AI-driven analytics, providing real-time facial recognition, event detection, and license plate identification capabilities.
The results are nothing short of remarkable: since its implementation, the system has identified over 32,000 violations of detention protocols, prevented 62 suicides and six escape attempts, and de-escalated 27 potentially violent conflicts. It has also reduced corruption and abuse, fostering humane treatment of inmates and improving the behavior of staff. For the first half of 2024, no cases of torture by staff were reported, a testament to the system’s effectiveness.
Innovation meets human-centered design
Kazakhstan’s video surveillance initiative goes beyond mere technological deployment. It represents a harmonious blend of innovation, process improvement, and personnel training. Prison staff have been equipped with the tools and knowledge to harness the system’s full potential, enabling proactive incident management and fostering a culture of accountability.
The initiative also supports the broader goal of rehabilitation. By improving the physical, psychological, and social conditions within prisons, the system aligns with global trends emphasizing inmate welfare and reintegration into society.
Overcoming challenges with strategic vision
Before the project, sporadic and poorly maintained surveillance systems plagued correctional facilities, resulting in inconsistent monitoring and inadequate evidence for investigations. Kazakhstan addressed these challenges by deploying a centralized, secure infrastructure that ensures uninterrupted video transmission to a Situation Center under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
This hub manages real-time monitoring and analytics while safeguarding data integrity and privacy. The adoption of a fiber-optic private network further enhances reliability and security, creating a scalable framework for future innovations.
Charting the road ahead
Kazakhstan’s video surveillance initiative is just the beginning. Plans are underway to integrate more advanced algorithms for object and event recognition and to connect the system with other IT infrastructures, such as access control solutions. These advancements will further strengthen the nation’s ability to maintain order, prevent misconduct, and foster trust in correctional institutions.
The nation’s achievement offers valuable lessons for countries aiming to modernize their correctional facilities. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, combining it with strategic governance, and emphasizing human-centered implementation, Kazakhstan has set a precedent for others to follow.
For a deeper dive into the strategies, implementation, and impact of this project, download the full report. Explore how Kazakhstan is redefining correctional facility management through innovation and strategic foresight.
Microsoft is creating a new engineering group focused on artificial intelligence: Core AI — Platform and Tools. The group combines the company’s Developer Division with the AI Platforms work teams and some employees who previously reported to Microsoft’s CTO. According to The Verge, the group will be led by Jay Parikh, the former CTO at Meta and who joined Microsoft in October 2024.
Core AI — Platform and Tools will focus on building an AI platform and tools for both Microsoft’s own use and for the company’s customers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a blog post that AI will require a record-breaking pace of development, which means Microsoft needs an AI-focused application stack to build AI apps and tools in the future.
“In this world, Azure must become the infrastructure for AI, while we build our AI platform and developer tools — spanning Azure AI Foundry, GitHub, and VS Code — on top of it,” Nadella said. “In other words, our AI platform and tools will work together to create agents, and these agents will work together to transform every category of SaaS application, and to build custom applications powered by software (i.e. ‘service as software’).”
Save me from rich, white men who insist they and their kind are being discriminated against. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, majority owner (not the founder) of SpaceX, Tesla, and numerous other leading companies, insists that “DEI [Diversity, equity, and inclusion] is just another word for racism.” He screams, “DEI must DIE. The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.”
Really? I’m an older, relatively well-off, straight white man, and I know darn well that I owe a lot of my success to the fact that, except for my age, everything in the US economy has been set up to benefit me.
In baseball terms, I started the game on first base. Black men have to get a hit to get on base. Black women step to home plate for their at-bat with two strikes against them.
Musk and his ilk? He grew up with a millionaire, emerald-mine-owning father in South Africa and started on third base.
It used to be worse in this country. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, while the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 laid the groundwork for equal employment opportunities and non-discrimination in the workplace.
Over the next few decades, dedicated diversity professionals began emerging within organizations, often holding titles like Chief Diversity Officer. As businesses became more diverse, companies also started recognizing that diversity is good for business.
While DEI is also about basic fairness, it turns out that businesses that adopt it tend to do better than their rivals. Don’t believe me? How about Goldman Sachs — would you believe it?
The global investment banking giant decided not to take companies public without diverse board representation in 2000. The financial powerhouse did so because evidence showed that companies with diverse boards outperformed those with all-male boards. Specifically, Goldman Sachs noted that companies with at least one woman on their board performed significantly better in their IPOs than those without women. Since then, the company has increased its minimum number of women board members to two. The company has also continued to support black women business owners for solid business reasons, not warm fuzzy feelings.
Get the picture? DEI helps businesses do well, and the results are right there in the balance sheets.
Facts, even accounting facts, count for little as American technology leaders bow to Donald Trump. For some, like Musk and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, it’s all about rising to power on the right-wing wave. For others, it’s simply about preserving their billions. Preserving the gains of blacks, gays, older workers — whoever — is not on their priority list.
That year, the Supreme Court’s Trump-friendly majority struck down affirmative action in college admissions. That decision prompted Republican activists and some state attorneys general to target corporate DEI initiatives as discriminatory. Given a choice between fighting a political battle and quietly shutting down their diversity efforts, all too many businesses have folded their DEI tents.
Others, such as Meta — where Zuck is suffering from a middle-aged crisis with his gold chain, newly curled hair, and sudden weird fascination with “masculine energy” — appear to be on their way to getting rid of their existing diverse workforce. He says he wants to “move out low performers faster.” I expect the upcoming 5% cut to come mostly from people of color, older workers, and LGBTQ+ staffers.
You get the picture.
What it all comes down to is that if you’re not a straight white guy, the job market is going to become a lot harder for you. As for companies? They’ll suffer as well. I fear, though, that we’re stuck with this trend until cold, hard financial facts convince corporate leadership that right-wing politics leads to poor business decisions.
The whole world was watching when legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the iconic iPhone in 2007. Mobile was the future. Apple knew it (and rebranded itself to reflect it). And Nokia had a fight on its hands. So, what did Nokia think about the iPhone launch?
Now we know.
Nokia, at one time the world’s leading mobile phone company, has made a huge archive of corporate assets available through a website curated by Finland’s Aalto University, the Nokia Design Archive. The fascinating collection provides deep insight into how the company operated; in particular, a 2007 Nokia Confidential report caught my eye, as it captures what the company thought when Apple introduced iPhone in 2007.
Much of the document focuses on price — Nokia believed the cost of the iPhone would put consumers off.
The company was also less convinced about Apple’s touch interface; Nokia execs thought consumers would want to stick with those dinky little QWERTY keyboards everybody used at that time. But in the end, cost and keyboard didn’t form the competitive moat Nokia anticipated, because the iPhone was all about the user experience, and the report shows Nokia executives were concerned.
You and your UI
“User interface has been a big strength for Nokia,” the post-iPhone introduction report authors wrote, warning that at that time consumers were falling out of love with the UI Nokia provided. “Urgent action needed to prevent further erosion of this position,” they said.
Apple’s new UI “may change the standards of the superior user experience for the whole market,” Nokia executives explained, noting it had been called “visually stunning and incredibly responsive.” Nokia also saw that Apple had protected its product with more than 200 patents, and once again argued that “UI may be the biggest threat that iPhone presents.
“Nokia needs a chief UI architect to re-energize Nokia’s IO innovations across platforms and businesses,” they wrote.
Apple’s product also introduced an innovative user interface built around the company’s powerful OS X system, something which integrated seamlessly with PC, Mac and the Internet, the executives noted.
Be cool, like Apple
Apple’s cool factor was seen as another challenge. And the fact Apple had delivered a full-fledged internet experience in its phone was seen as an even bigger threat. The company confessed that its own high-end N-series devices, including the brand-new N800 it introduced just before iPhone in 2007, were challenged in comparison.
Nokia’s executives delivered a strong and, in the end, accurate set of predictions about how iPhone would affect the wider smartphone industry at that time:
“A price war may emerge by Motorola trying to push their new models.” It did. Apple did not lose — and didn’t shift prices much, either.
“iPhone will also hurt Sony Ericsson’s momentum and coherent music strategy.” It did just that. iTunes was the dominant music service.
“N-Series and SEMC Walkman probably need to clearly undercut iPhone pricing to succeed in the market.” They tried, but consumers were not prepared to compromise on user experiences, and the integration with the Mac added a front that no mobile incumbent was able to match — certainly not Microsoft.
“Expect RIM and Palm to suffer – their stock prices have been most badly beaten.” Apple ate their lunch.
“All the high-end devices attract the enterprise segment — expect that also for iPhone.” Arguably, iPhone and iPad are what have led to Apple’s huge resurgence in the enterprise. Almost every company worldwide now users Apple products.
Nokia introduced its own iTunes competitor, Ovi a few months later, but this never really challenged iTunes.
The fascinating document confirms that Nokia understood some of what was coming when Jobs introduced Apple’s mobile phone. It could see that the iPhone had the potential to stimulate demand for high-end devices, which it did and still does. iPhones became the de facto high-end market leader.
When Android stole the market
Even today, Apple scoops up a vast share of industry profits as its customers continue to invest in the best model iPhone they can afford. They do this because they continue to enjoy the user experience Apple provides.
But even back in 2007, Nokia saw that the exclusive US iPhone distribution relationship Apple reached with Cingular (later acquired by AT&T) was both a strength and a weakness. To compete, the industry was famously forced to rally round Google’s Android, an operating system Steve Jobs once vowed to destroy.
However, the embrace of Android proved ill-judged. It led the market into homogeneity, eternal price wars, and enabled Google, rather than the mobile device makers, to take the lion’s share of any services-related income. Apple did this too, of course — but Apple also took the risk of making and selling the hardware, software, and services used. Now, it sells one in every four smartphones, and perhaps almost one in five of those sold is now made in India.
The problem for Nokia was that it didn’t make Android, either. Arguably, it failed to find a response in user interfaces and (looking through the online archive) seemed limited in its outlook when it came to designing operating systems to compete with Apple’s own. But I guess execs from around that time can console themselves in thinking that they accurately read the room.
Microsoft has added a “pay-as-you-go” option to access AI agents alongside its free M365 Copilot Chat plan.
M365 Copilot Chat is a chat interface powered by OpenAI’s GPT4o that serves up responses based on web data (rather than information held in the Microsoft Graph, as per the paid M365 Copilot subscription). It also includes features such as Copilot Pages and image generation, as well as data protection and IT admin controls at no cost to users.
As with many software vendors, Microsoft began a major push around its M365 Copilot agents towards the end of 2024. These range from chatbots that can answer questions about specific documents to autonomous software agents that can complete more complex tasks such as client onboarding or customer support.
M365 Copilot Chat provides an “on-ramp” for business to access Copilot and AI agents, Microsoft said.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat now has a “pay-as-you-go” option that allows access to agents.
MIcrosoft
“M365 Copilot Chat reflects a broader change in the world of generative AI happening in 2025: The rise of agents to complement personal AI assistants like Copilot,” said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst on Forrester’s Future of Work team.
The plan lacks many of the core features available in the main M365 Copilot subscription service — which costs $30 per user a month — notably the AI personal assistant embedded in apps such as Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel. Microsoft has struggled to convince large numbers of customers to adopt its M365 Copilot broadly since the service launched in November 2023.
Microsoft said it expects customers will have “a mix of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot — our best-in-class offering — to drive AI transformation at scale.”
“On the one hand, having access to a basic LLM is becoming table stakes, so it makes sense for Microsoft to offer a secure and managed Copilot Chat as part of the broader Microsoft 365 offering,” said Gownder. “On the other hand, this Copilot Chat can act as a conduit to agents, which will soon proliferate throughout enterprises.”
M365 Copilot Chat agent usage is measured in “message” credits. These are charged either with a pay-as-you-go model at 1 cent per message, or with pre-paid message bundles priced at $200 for 25,000 messages, Microsoft said in a blog post.
Microsoft sets out four types of agent “answers,” or responses, that each consume a different number of message credits. For example, “classic” answers, used for pre-written responses that are manually authored when an agent is created, cost 1 message, while autonomous agent responses cost 25 messages.
Consumption-based licensing provides a low-cost alternative for customers that want to get started with Copilot services grounded in M365 content, said Larry Cannell, research director at Gartner’s Technical Professionals Digital Workplace service.
“CIOs often prefer it to flat-based licensing of new products because they can better align value delivered to the cost of the product,” he said. “It is much easier to sell a solution based on demonstrated use rather than expected demand.”
Generative AI (genAI) is seemingly everywhere these days — and Windows is certainly no exception.
The OS itself now has Copilot on its taskbar, and new PCs ship with a dedicated Copilot AI key on their keyboards. Microsoft is adding more and more genAI features as time goes by and it’s increasingly hard to search the web without getting a genAI answer from Google and other search engines.
I’ve heard from people who love the technology, and I’ve heard from people who can’t stand it. Me, I’m right here in the middle: I keep experimenting with it, but articles like this one are 100% written by a real-life human. Personally, I want to see genAI features when I choose — certainly not all the time, everywhere on my computer.
Plain and simple, you might occasionally use genAI tools to get work done, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to be bombarded with it everywhere. That’s what these tips are all about: easy ways to eliminate the AI elements integrated throughout Windows and Chrome or whatever other web browser you’re using. It’s your computer, your workday, and your online experience.
First, a quick bit of pertinent perspective: Despite all the hype, most Windows AI features aren’t actually doing anything in the background. They usually don’t do anything at all, in fact, until you click a button to summon them.
For example, the Microsoft Paint app has a built-in AI image generator tool. It does nothing whatsoever unless you open Paint and click the “Image Creator” button on the toolbar. Then, it will generate an image for you.
If you don’t want to use that image feature, just don’t click that button. If you don’t want to see the button, don’t launch Microsoft Paint. Most genAI features in Windows are exactly like that — so far.
But there are some AI features that are getting awfully insistent. So let’s get out the proverbial weedwhacker and trim them back.
Windows AI elimination step #1: Start with Google
Most genAI features lay low unless you go looking for them; Google’s AI answers are an in-your-face exception. You’ll often get answers written by Google’s Gemini AI just when searching Google, whether you want them or not.
There are many ways to avoid AI answers on Google. Here’s a quick list:
After searching for something on Google, click the “Web” category. You’ll only see web links.
Add the text -ai to any search to hide AI answers.
Install the simple “Hide Google AI Overviews” Chrome extension to hide AI answers. This extension should work on other Chromium-based browsers like Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi. It’s available for Firefox, too.
Microsoft’s Copilot AI chatbot app now comes pinned to the taskbar by default in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. It’s just one click away.
If you don’t want it down there, getting rid of it is easy — and the latest version of Copilot makes it even easier: Just right-click the Copilot taskbar icon and select “Unpin from taskbar.” That’s it.
Copilot doesn’t actually do anything until you open it and ask it a question, so it won’t do anything on your PC as long as you leave it closed. You can also opt to completely uninstall it, though, if you like: Just open the Start menu, search for “Copilot,” then right-click the “Copilot” shortcut and select “Uninstall.”
You can now unpin Copilot like any other app — with just a right-click.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows AI elimination step #3: Reclaim the Copilot key
All on-screen implementations aside, many new laptops now come with an actual physical Copilot key on their keyboards. That key will launch Microsoft’s AI chatbot — and it’s easy to accidentally tap. But you can stop it.
To do so, open the Settings app on your Windows 11 PC, select “Personalization,” and then choose “Text input.” Scroll down to the “Customize Copilot key on keyboard” option. You can set it to “Search” to use it as a search key instead, similar to what’s present on Chromebooks.
(You can also make it launch a different app — like the ChatGPT app, for example — if you’d prefer.)
Windows lets you transform a Copilot key into a Search key in a few clicks.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows AI elimination step #4: Tackle the toolbar
If you prefer using Microsoft’s web browser, you’ll notice it has a big Copilot AI chatbot icon right on its toolbar. You can get rid of that, too.
To remove Copilot from Edge’s toolbar:
Click the menu button at the top-right corner of the Edge browser window and select “Settings.”
Click ”Copilot and sidebar” in the left pane.
Click the “Copilot” app under “App and notification settings.”
Turn off the “Show Copilot” option.
You can use Edge without the Copilot icon on your browser’s toolbar.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows AI elimination step #5. Total Recall removal
While I’ve mentioned that most AI features on Windows don’t do anything unless you launch them, the one exception is the Windows Recall feature — which runs in the background and saves snapshots of your PC’s screen so you can search your PC usage later. Bear in mind, this is only on new “Copilot+ PCs,” and it’s disabled by default. Also: Your Recall data is never sent to Microsoft — it’s processed entirely on your PC.
At the moment (in January 2025), Recall is only available in Insider versions of Windows 11. Of course, it will almost certainly come to all Copilot+ PCs at some point this year.
You can check whether the Recall feature is active on Windows 11 by opening the Settings app, selecting “Privacy & security,” and clicking “Recall & snapshots” under Windows permissions. From here, you can turn off “Save snapshots” if you don’t want the AI-powered Recall feature capturing snapshots in the background.
Don’t see anything about “Recall & snapshots” in the Settings app? That means your Windows PC doesn’t have Recall. Most Windows PCs don’t!
Recall only runs in the background if you choose to enable it.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Choose your own AI adventure
Remember: AI doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You might prefer a traditional Google search experience and a Copilot-free Windows desktop, but you might still launch the ChatGPT app now and then or use whatever AI tools your workplace provides.
The choice is yours — and now, you know exactlyhow to make it happen.
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