Google just dropped CC, their new AI productivity agent from Google Labs. The pitch sounds promising: an AI that sends you daily briefings, synthesizes your calendar, and helps you stay on top of your day.

But here’s what the press releases don’t emphasize: CC can’t actually schedule meetings.

It can tell you about your day. It can suggest email drafts. It can prepare calendar links. What it can’t do is the thing most busy professionals actually need - handle the endless back-and-forth of scheduling so you don’t have to.

If you’re looking for a Google CC alternative that goes beyond briefings and actually takes action on your calendar, you’re in the right place. This guide breaks down what CC does, where it falls short, and what to look for in an AI calendar assistant that works.

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What Is Google CC?

CC is an experimental AI productivity agent from Google Labs, launched December 16, 2025. Think of it as a daily assistant that lives in your email inbox.

Here’s how it works: CC connects to your Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. Each morning, it sends you a “Your Day Ahead” email that synthesizes your schedule, pending tasks, and relevant updates into one summary.

CC’s Core Features

• Daily briefing emails: Get a morning summary of your day
• Calendar synthesis: See meetings, deadlines, and scheduling conflicts
• Email suggestions: CC prepares draft responses you can review
• Calendar link preparation: Creates links for scheduling (but you still send them)
• Preference learning: Adapts to your habits over time
• Reply-based requests: Email CC with custom questions about your day

The concept is solid. Instead of opening three apps to understand your morning, CC consolidates everything into one email.

But here’s the catch: CC is read-only when it comes to action. It tells you what’s happening. It doesn’t do anything about it.

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Google CC Limitations: What It Can’t Do

This is where things get interesting for anyone evaluating CC as a productivity solution.

CC Cannot Schedule Meetings

This is the biggest gap. CC can tell you that you have a scheduling request in your inbox. It can prepare a calendar link for you to send. But it cannot:

• Coordinate meeting times with other people
• Send scheduling emails on your behalf
• Find available slots that work for everyone
• Handle the back-and-forth that scheduling requires

You still have to do the work. CC just tells you the work exists.

CC Cannot Reschedule or Manage Changes

Plans change. Meetings get moved. Flights get delayed.

CC cannot automatically update your calendar when things shift. If someone reschedules a meeting, you’re still manually adjusting your calendar. If you need to move a call, CC can’t send that update to attendees.

CC Cannot Send Emails to Others

CC prepares drafts. You review and send them. This might save a few minutes of writing, but it doesn’t eliminate the task itself.

For actual delegation - where an assistant sends emails, coordinates with contacts, and manages responses - CC doesn’t deliver.

CC Only Works Within Google’s Ecosystem

If you use Outlook for work and Google Calendar for personal life, CC won’t help with your Outlook calendar. It’s designed for users fully embedded in Google Workspace.

For anyone juggling multiple calendar systems, this is a hard limitation.

CC Requires Google AI Ultra ($250/month)

Here’s the pricing reality: CC is currently available to Google AI Ultra subscribers. That’s $250 per month.

For a tool that provides briefings but can’t take action, that’s a significant investment. And since CC is experimental, there’s no guarantee it will exist in its current form six months from now.

CC Is Geographically Limited

Currently, CC is only available in the US and Canada. If you’re outside those regions, you can’t access it yet.

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Who Google CC Is Actually For

CC makes sense for a specific type of user:

You might like CC if you:

• Want a passive daily summary of your schedule
• Use Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive exclusively
• Are comfortable with suggestion-only AI that doesn’t take autonomous action
• Have Google AI Ultra subscription for other reasons
• Prefer to maintain full manual control over your calendar

CC probably isn’t for you if you:

• Need actual meeting scheduling handled for you
• Want to eliminate the back-and-forth of calendar coordination
• Use multiple calendar systems (Outlook + Google, for example)
• Don’t want to pay $250/month for briefings
• Need an assistant that can communicate with others on your behalf

The fundamental question: Do you want an AI that tells you about your day, or one that manages it?

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What to Look for in a Google CC Alternative

If CC’s limitations don’t match your needs, here’s what to prioritize when evaluating alternatives.

1. Actual Scheduling Capability

The best AI calendar assistants don’t just summarize your meetings - they schedule them. Look for tools that can:

• Coordinate with other people to find meeting times
• Send scheduling communications on your behalf
• Handle cancellations and reschedules automatically
• Work without requiring you to send links or copy availability

2. Multiple Communication Channels

Email is great, but it’s not the only way people communicate. A flexible AI scheduling assistant should work across:

• Email forwarding (forward scheduling requests and they’re handled)
• Text/SMS (text instructions like you would to a human)
• Email CC (include your assistant on threads to coordinate)

3. Cross-Platform Calendar Support

Your productivity tool shouldn’t lock you into one ecosystem. Look for solutions that work with:

• Google Calendar
• Microsoft Outlook/365
• Apple Calendar
• Multiple calendars simultaneously

4. Customizable Daily Briefings

If you want daily briefings, they should be tailored to what you actually need - not a one-size-fits-all summary. Look for tools that let you customize what information you receive.

5. Accessible Pricing

$250/month is enterprise-level pricing for a productivity tool. Effective AI scheduling shouldn’t require a premium subscription to a broader platform.

6. Actually Available

Waitlists and experimental status mean uncertainty. Prioritize tools that are stable, available, and have a track record of reliability.

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Carly: The AI Calendar Assistant That Takes Action

Here’s where the Google CC alternative conversation gets practical.

Carly is an AI calendar assistant designed around a simple principle: if you can email or text, you can manage your calendar.

Where CC tells you about your day, Carly handles it.

How Carly Works

Forward emails to schedule meetings. Got a scheduling request in your inbox? Forward it to Carly. She reads the email, checks everyone’s availability, and coordinates the meeting. You show up. That’s it.

Text Carly like a human assistant. Need to add a reminder? Block focus time? Schedule a call? Text Carly the way you’d text a real assistant: “Add dentist appointment Thursday at 2pm” or “Block 9-11am tomorrow for deep work.”

CC Carly on email threads. When you’re in a scheduling conversation, CC Carly. She follows the thread, proposes times that work for everyone, and handles the back-and-forth until a meeting is booked.

Send screenshots and photos. Got a conference schedule? Travel itinerary? School activity calendar? Send Carly a photo. She extracts every event and adds them to your calendar automatically.

Carly’s Customizable Daily Briefing

Here’s where Carly goes beyond CC’s generic briefing. Carly’s daily briefing is fully customizable - you decide what information matters to you each morning.

Configure your briefing to include:

• Who you’re meeting: Get context on each person you’ll see that day, not just meeting titles
• News and updates: Stay informed on topics that matter to you
• Weather and commute info: Know what to expect before you leave
• Task reminders: Surface the most important items for your attention
• Custom topics: Add whatever context helps you start your day prepared

Unlike CC’s fixed format, Carly adapts to how you work. Some users want a quick schedule overview. Others want detailed context on everyone they’re meeting. Sales reps want pipeline updates. Parents want school pickup reminders. Carly delivers what you need, not a generic summary.

Why Carly Works as a CC Alternative

The fundamental difference between Carly and Google CC is action vs. information.

CC gives you a briefing. Carly handles the scheduling.

CC prepares a draft. Carly sends the email.

CC suggests you schedule a meeting. Carly schedules the meeting.

For busy professionals who need actual calendar management - not just a summary of what’s on their plate - Carly delivers what CC promises but doesn’t provide.

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Google CC vs. Carly: Feature Comparison

Feature	Google CC	Carly
Daily briefing	Yes (fixed format)	Yes (customizable)
Schedule meetings	No	Yes
Reschedule meetings	No	Yes
Add events from emails	Suggests only	Actually adds them
Works via text/SMS	No	Yes
Screenshot/photo to calendar	No	Yes
Works outside Google	No	Yes - any calendar
Send emails to others	No	Yes
Briefing on who you’re meeting	Basic	Detailed context
News/custom briefing topics	No	Yes
Price	$250/month (AI Ultra)	Accessible pricing
Availability	US/Canada, waitlist	Generally available

What Each Tool Does Best

Google CC excels at: Providing a consolidated morning view of your Google Workspace. If you want a passive summary without autonomous action, CC delivers that.

Carly excels at: Eliminating the actual work of calendar management. Scheduling, rescheduling, coordinating with others, adding events from any source - the tasks that eat into productive time. Plus customizable briefings that adapt to your needs.

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How to Choose Between CC and a Scheduling Assistant

The choice comes down to what problem you’re actually solving.

Choose Google CC if:

• You want a daily digest of your schedule
• You’re fully invested in Google Workspace
• You prefer AI that suggests but doesn’t act autonomously
• You already have Google AI Ultra for other features
• Manual scheduling control matters more than time savings

Choose Carly if:

• You need actual meeting scheduling handled for you
• You want to eliminate back-and-forth calendar coordination
• You use multiple calendar systems
• You want an assistant that can communicate with others
• You want customizable daily briefings tailored to your needs
• Time saved on scheduling is more valuable than maintaining manual control
• You want something available now without waitlists

The Busy Professional Test

Ask yourself: What takes more of your time - not knowing what’s on your calendar, or actually managing that calendar?

If it’s the former, CC might help. If it’s the latter - the endless emails to find a time, the manual event entry, the coordination across multiple people - a scheduling-focused tool like Carly is the better fit.

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The Bigger Picture: Briefings vs. Actions

Google CC represents one philosophy of AI productivity: give users better information so they can make better decisions.

That’s valuable. But it still leaves the execution to you.

The alternative philosophy - represented by tools like Carly, and scheduling-focused solutions that have emerged as Calendly alternatives - is that AI should do the work, not just describe it.

Think about what top performers actually do with their calendars. They protect their time. They delegate scheduling. They focus on the work that matters, not the logistics around it.

CC tells you about the logistics. It doesn’t eliminate them.

According to Counterpoint Research, email-related workflow accounts for 25-30% of daily worker productivity. That’s a significant chunk of time. A briefing about that workload helps you understand it. An assistant that handles scheduling actually reduces it.

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Getting Started with a Google CC Alternative

If you’ve decided that action-oriented AI is what you need, here’s how to make the switch:

Step 1: Connect Your Calendar

Link your Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar. Most AI scheduling assistants support multiple calendar systems simultaneously.

Step 2: Forward Your First Scheduling Email

Take a meeting request sitting in your inbox right now. Forward it to your AI assistant. Watch what happens. The back-and-forth you would have handled? Delegated.

Step 3: Try Text-Based Scheduling

Text a simple request: “Add team standup every Tuesday at 10am.” No app to open. No forms to fill. Just a message.

Step 4: Customize Your Daily Briefing

Set up your morning briefing with the information that matters to you. Choose whether you want news updates, detailed meeting context, weather, or just a simple schedule overview. Make it yours.

Step 5: Evaluate the Time Savings

Track how many scheduling tasks your AI handles in a week. Compare that to what you were doing manually. The difference is your productivity reclaimed.

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Conclusion

Google CC is an interesting experiment in AI productivity. The daily briefing concept has merit, and for users deeply embedded in Google’s ecosystem who want passive summaries, it may prove useful.

But for the core problem most busy professionals face - the hours lost to scheduling logistics - CC doesn’t solve it. It describes the problem. It doesn’t fix it.

If you’re looking for a Google CC alternative that actually manages your calendar, the criteria are clear: schedule meetings, handle changes, work across platforms, and communicate on your behalf. And if you want daily briefings, they should be customizable to your needs - not a one-size-fits-all summary.

Carly does all of that. Action-oriented scheduling plus customizable briefings that adapt to how you work.

Stop reading about your schedule. Start having it managed for you. Try Carly free and see what actual AI calendar management looks like.

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