Gmail’s new AI features can help with managing your inbox

Gmail is getting more AI features that could make it easier to stay on top of your email.

On the web, Google is beginning to roll out a new Gemini side panel that can do things like summarize email threads and draft new emails. The tool will offer “proactive prompts” but you can also ask “freeform questions,” Google writes in a blog post, and it’s “built to leverage Google’s most capable models,” such as Gemini 1.5 Pro. In the Gmail mobile apps, Google will also give you the ability to have Gemini summarize threads.

These improvements could be useful, but they’ll only be available to paid Gemini users: you’ll need to be a Google Workspace customer with a Gemini Business or Enterprise add-on, a Gemini Education or Education Premium add-on, or a Google One AI Premium subscriber. I’d also caution against fully relying on these tools for work; given that AI sometimes hallucinates things, make sure you’re double-checking an important email Gemini helps with before you send it.

Google is also rolling out Gemini features to the side panel in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Drive. Google promised last month at I/O that these features were on the way. And there are still some announced AI features to come for Gmail, including “Contextual Smart Reply.”