Image: Google
Sometimes AI just feels overwhelming, like it’s another thing to manage. Google, however, is announcing a couple of features within Gmail that will use AI to actually simplify your life.
At PCWorld, we’ve written numerous articles on ways to clean out your Gmail inbox. There’s nothing worse than seeing a notification that your cloud storage is out of space, and trying to decide whether to take the time to clean it out (and risk losing something!) or pay more for additional space.
And cleaning it out is no fun at all, either. What email should stay? What should go? Trying to decide what’s important or not is a headache, but then trying to navigate through the Gmail interface is a pain.
That’s why I’m honestly excited that Google plans to apply Gemini to the job. In a blog post by Yulie Kwon Kim, vice-president of product at Google Workspace, Google said at its Google I/O conference that Gemini is being added to Gmail to help clean up your inbox. “Simply tell Gemini what you want to do (e.g., ‘Delete all of my unread emails from the Groomed Paw from last year’) and watch as it helps you manage and declutter your inbox with a single click.”
I don’t think it will be as easy as all that; you’ll still have to decide what stays and what goes. But Google uses a good example here, and you can simply apply tips from our previous stories about looking for and deleting emails with large attachments, and so on. Gemini should work on your Android phone (you do have an Android phone, right?) and Gmail, so that you can probably clean up your inbox while chilling out on the couch.
Gmail’s also expanding its predictive capabilities, adding personalized smart replies that use your tone, phrasing, and knowledge of your inbox. Google’s demonstration of the technology offered responses of several sentences, which is always a bit risky. You’ll want to monitor these. On the other hand, Google is also trying to make it easier to coordinate your schedule, offering suggestions for open times and sharing a booking page, if you have one. (Honestly, that’s a lot of why we exchange emails these days, it seems.)
All of these features will be available next quarter — sometime in the fall, in other words. It’s one of the few times I can say that I honestly can’t wait.
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.