Google has unveiled a new AI Inbox for Gmail designed to provide a personalized overview of your tasks and keep you informed of important updates. Gmail is also launching AI Overviews in search and a Grammarly-like “Correct” feature. In addition, Gmail brings to all users several AI features that were previously only available to paid users.
The new AI Inbox tab has two sections: “Suggested Backlogs” and “Topics to Update.” The first section shows summaries of top-priority emails that require an action, such as a reminder that you have a bill due tomorrow or that you need to call your dermatologist to confirm your mailing address so they can send you your prescription refill.
In the “Topics to Update” section, you’ll see updates like “Your Lululemon return is being processed and your order for Metal Vent Tech shirts has been delivered” and “Year-end statement is now available from Wealthfront.” These different updates are grouped into different categories such as Finance and Shopping.
“It’s about us proactively delivering on Gmail with your back, showing you what to do and when to do it,” said Blake Barnes, Google’s VP of Product, in a briefing with reporters. “Don’t worry, your traditional inbox will remain available. This is just a new view that you can switch in and out of as you please to reduce the noise of your inbox.”
Google is rolling out its AI Inbox feature to trusted testers before making it more widely available in the coming months.
With the new AI Insights in Gmail search, users can now search their inbox using natural language questions to get a quick answer instead of relying on traditional keyword search and opening multiple emails to find specific information.
For example, you might ask “Who was the plumber who gave me a quote on my bathroom renovation last year?” You’ll then get an AI overview that pulls responses from your emails and highlights the key details you need.
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“We clean every email in your inbox and give you the answers to your questions right at the top,” Blake said. “So just like AI Insights in Google Search, you can ask natural language questions to get an AI answer. But in Gmail, the model relies entirely on your email, your personal memory brain, to generate the answer.”
This new functionality is available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.
Google says that all of Gmail’s AI features are optional, that it doesn’t use personal content to train its underlying models, and that it processes personal data in a strictly isolated environment.
As for the new Proofread feature, Google says it’s designed to help you polish and improve your writing by analyzing your draft to improve clarity and structure. It offers one-click suggestions for word choice, brevity, active voice, and breaking up complex sentences.
For example, if you write something like “may cause annoyance,” Gmail will suggest changing it to “may annoy.” It will also point out instances where you use the wrong word, such as “weather” instead of “if.” It is essentially similar to popular proofreading services like Grammarly.
By having its own correction tool, Google is probably hoping that people will stop turning to third-party tools or linking their emails to ChatGPT to fix them.
Proofread is available to subscribers of Google AI Pro and Ultra paid subscription tiers.
While these new features are only rolling out to select users, Google announced that Gmail’s Help Me Write, AI Preview for threaded emails, and Suggested Replies are rolling out to all users. These features were previously only available to paying subscribers.
Help Me Write can help you compose an email from a single message, while Threaded Email AI Overviews provide summaries of longer email threads with multiple replies. Suggested Replies use the context of conversations to offer relevant answers that match your tone and style.
