Gmail debuts a personalized AI Inbox, AI Overviews in search, and more

Google has unveiled a new AI Inbox for Gmail that’s designed to provide a personalized overview of your tasks and keep you informed about important updates. Gmail is also launching AI Overviews in search and a Grammarly-like “Proofread” feature. Additionally, Gmail is bringing to all users several AI features that were previously available only to paid users.

The new AI Inbox tab features two sections: “Suggested to-dos” and “Topics to catch up on.” The first section displays 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 ship your prescription refill.

Under the “Topics to catch up on” section, you’ll see updates such as “Your Lululemon return is being processed, and your order of Metal Vent Tech shirts has been delivered” and “Your end-of-year statement is now available from Wealthfront.” These different updates are grouped into different categories, such as “Finances” and “Purchases.”

“This is us delivering on Gmail proactively having your back, showing you what you need to do and when you need to do it,” said Blake Barnes, VP, Product at Google, in a briefing with reporters. “Don’t worry, the traditional inbox will remain available. This is simply a new view you can toggle in and out of as you please to cut through the noise of your incoming mail.”

Google is rolling out the AI Inbox feature to trusted testers before making it more broadly available in the coming months.

With the new AI Overviews in Gmail search, users can now search their inbox using natural language questions to get a quick answer instead of having to rely on traditional keyword search and open multiple emails to find specific information.

For example, you can ask “Who was the plumber that gave me a quote for the bathroom renovation last year?” You will then get an AI Overview that pulls answers from your emails and highlights the key details you need.

“We scour every email in your inbox, and we give you the answer to your questions right at the top,” Blake said. “So just like AI Overviews in Google Search, you can ask natural language questions to get an AI-powered response. However, in Gmail, the model relies solely on your email, your personal memory brain, to generate the response.”

This new functionality is rolling out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

Google says all of Gmail’s AI features are optional, that it doesn’t use personal content to train its foundational 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 refine your writing by analyzing your draft to improve clarity and structure. It offers one-click suggestions for word choice, conciseness, active voice, and splitting complex sentences.

For instance, if you write something like “might inflict disturbance,” Gmail will suggest changing it to “might disturb.” It’ll also flag instances where you use the wrong word, like “weather” instead of “whether.” It’s essentially similar to popular proofreading services like Grammarly.

By rolling out its own proofreading tool, Google likely hopes people will stop turning to third-party tools or plugging their emails into ChatGPT to fix them.

Proofread is rolling out to subscribers of its paid subscription tiers Google AI Pro and Ultra.

While these new features are only launching to select users, Google announced that Gmail’s “Help Me Write,” AI Overviews 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 prompt, while AI Overviews for threaded emails provide summaries of longer email threads with multiple replies. Suggested Replies use the context of conversations to offer relevant responses that match your tone and style.