This year’s Google I/O focused on the theme of Gemini and the advancements made by the AI model over the past year. Google introduced numerous new AI integrations into its core workspace apps and services, such as Gemini in Gmail. These additions bring new AI features to Gmail, and we’ll explore them in detail.
What are the New Gemini Features in Gmail?
Google unveiled several exciting features that will roll out to Gmail in the coming months. Here’s an overview of each feature:
Gemini 1.5 Pro Side Panel
Google has made it easier to access Gemini with a new side panel, allowing users to summon the AI chatbot conveniently. By clicking on the Gemini icon in the top right corner, users can access the feature, which is now live for me.
Opening the panel will display suggested actions that users can try out or allow them to input prompts for results. Additionally, the panel will introduce a more robust Gemini 1.5 Pro, enabling it to reference a larger dataset. This enhancement enables Gemini to create summaries, provide more information about emails, and even draft replies.
This functionality is currently accessible via Workspace Labs for Workspace Alpha users. It will gradually be introduced to the desktop version of Gmail for both business and consumer users through Gemini for Workspace add-ons and Google’s AI premium plan.
Email Summaries on Mobile
Google is extending email summaries to the Gmail mobile app, featuring a “summarize” button at the top of emails. This capability enables Gemini to scan your email thread and provide a summary. If you’re part of Workspace Labs, you can try out email summaries starting this month, with other users receiving the feature next month.
Q&A in Gmail with Gemini
The functionality will operate similarly to the side panel in Gmail on the web, allowing you to summon the AI and view suggestions like “Summarise,” “Show next step,” or “Suggest a reply.” Additionally, you can input your own prompts to ask more detailed questions related to your emails. Similar to contextual replies, this feature will also be available on the web and mobile, starting in July.
Contextual Smart Replies
You might assume that Smart replies are already a feature in Gmail, and there’s nothing new about them. However, soon Gemini will be able to generate more relevant responses based on the context of the emails. Currently, these responses tend to sound generic regardless of the email’s content. This enhanced feature will be available from July for Workspace Labs users.
My Experience Trying Gemini wthin Gmail
Even before the Day 1 keynote began, I was already checking some of my emails and noticed that one of my Gmail accounts had access to the Gemini side panel feature. I gave it a try, and it was quite limited in its capabilities. As of now, it can only provide summaries for emails. While it does offer suggestions to extract more information from emails, they are not particularly useful.
When I attempted to have Gemini draft a response to my cover letter, the result was quite generic. Any attempt to ask more nuanced questions resulted in an error message saying, “Something went wrong. Try again.” This was quite frustrating, to say the least.
This occurred several times whenever I posed a somewhat complex question. It couldn’t even provide my unread email count, even though it was clearly visible in front of me.
It seems that Gemini still has a lot of progress to make before it becomes a truly valuable addition to my Gmail inbox. Hopefully, by July, we’ll see more enhancements as the feature is gradually rolled out to more users. If you’ve already received the Gemini side panel in Gmail, feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments section.
0 Comments