Olufemi Adeyemi
At last year's I/O event, Google unveiled initiatives aimed at enhancing the utility of AI for all users. One notable development is the introduction of the "Help me write" feature in Gmail, currently available to participants in Workspace Labs, designed to simplify the email composition process. However, this is merely the latest enhancement in Gmail's suite of AI functionalities. Many Gmail users have long benefited from a variety of AI-driven features. According to Chao Wang, a software engineer on the Gmail intelligence team, "Gmail has a long history of leveraging AI to assist users throughout their email experience."
Here are six AI-enhanced features that improve Gmail's functionality across various tasks, from organizing incoming messages to aiding in response creation.
1. “Help me write”
The "Help me write" feature can generate complete email drafts based on straightforward prompts. Currently part of the Workspace Labs program, interested users can sign up online to participate. Once granted access, the "Help me write" icon will appear when composing a new email in Gmail. Look for the star with a pencil icon and provide a prompt detailing the subject of your email—perhaps you want to request book recommendations from a friend, particularly thrillers set in beautiful locations.
After clicking “Create,” you will receive a fully drafted email based on your input. You can choose “Insert” or use the “Refine” button to make adjustments, allowing you to modify the tone to be more formal, elaborate, or concise as needed. Additionally, you can opt for “I’m feeling lucky” to explore different tones generated by the feature. Gmail has also recently introduced the capability to extract information from previous email threads to enhance contextual understanding.
2. Smart Compose
Smart Compose is an excellent tool for those who prefer not to start an email draft from the ground up but still appreciate receiving helpful suggestions throughout the writing process.
This feature employs a hybrid language generation model and operates on Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to provide wording recommendations. By simply pressing the “Tab” key, users can accept a suggestion and seamlessly integrate those words into their email draft without the need for full typing.
While one of the primary objectives of Smart Compose is to enhance writing efficiency, it also offers significant advantages for certain users. “English isn’t my native language, so I use Smart Compose to learn new phrases,” shares Chao. For other language learners, it’s worth noting that Smart Compose supports English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
3. Smart Reply
Consider receiving an email from a friend inquiring about your attendance at their party this Saturday, just as you are about to enter a series of meetings. Now, envision being able to respond to your friend in mere seconds without any typing.
That’s the essence of Smart Reply. This feature can generate up to three potential responses to incoming emails. With just a couple of clicks or taps, you can choose and send your reply.
Smart Reply utilizes sophisticated machine learning techniques, such as deep neural networks, which enable a computer to learn from previous examples, to generate a suitable set of potential replies from a vast array of diverse and nuanced responses. This means that instead of receiving basic replies like “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe,” you’ll have access to more refined options such as “Sounds great, count me in,” “Sorry, I can’t make it tomorrow,” or “Awesome, I’ll be there!”
“The Gmail team conducted a user study and found that even typing these types of replies can be somewhat time-consuming,” explains Chao. “This presented a valuable opportunity for us to provide assistance.”
4. Tabbed Inbox
An effective inbox should facilitate easy navigation rather than present a confusing array of messages. This is where the tabbed inbox feature proves beneficial. Gmail employs a classification system powered by machine learning to determine the appropriate destination for each email based on various indicators, such as the sender's identity. Emails are sorted into one of five designated tabs: Primary, Promotions, Social, Updates, and Forums. Users have the flexibility to utilize any combination of these tabs. This organization enables you to quickly access the messages you prioritize while automatically filtering those that can be addressed later. Additionally, if an email is misclassified, you can simply drag it to the correct tab, which helps refine the model according to your preferences.
To facilitate this automatic categorization, Gmail integrates neural network-based machine learning with heuristic algorithms, which utilize AI-generated decision trees for decision-making. To ensure user privacy, the algorithms learn to categorize emails using a wealth of aggregated and anonymized data. As Chao explains, the system is designed to avoid learning from individual user data unless explicit consent is provided.
5. Summary Cards
Summary cards address the need for quick access to essential information within lengthy messages. For instance, when receiving flight ticket confirmations, you may only require details such as the date and time of your flights, as noted by Chao. Similarly, after making an online purchase, it would be more convenient to see a summary of your order at the beginning of the confirmation email instead of having to scroll through the entire message.
Utilizing heuristic and machine learning algorithms, summary card technology automatically identifies specific data from incoming emails to determine the nature of the message and highlight its key content. Instead of manually sifting through all the information, this feature presents an information card at the top of the email, showcasing essential details such as your flight dates and duration or the names of items you have ordered. Beyond travel and shopping confirmation emails, summary cards may also appear at the top of confirmation emails related to hotel bookings, restaurant reservations, ticketed events like concerts, and Google Calendar invites. For Calendar invites, you will have the option to adjust your response and view other events scheduled for that day directly from the summary card.
6. Nudging
If you have never overlooked replying to an email, you may be quite rare. For the majority of us, there is Nudging, a feature that prompts you to respond to or follow up on significant messages. According to Chao, Nudging is the first Gmail AI feature that operates on both received and sent emails, and it is his preferred feature for a relatable reason: “It helps me discover a lot of missed emails,” he explains.
For incoming emails, Nudging employs a machine learning model to identify which emails you have not responded to and predicts which ones you are likely to answer. After a few days, it will automatically elevate the message to the top of your inbox, accompanied by a note indicating that you received it three days ago and inquiring if you would like to reply.
Nudging can also serve as a reminder for outgoing messages that have not received a response. Chao explains, “If I send an email and do not hear back within three days, Nudging alerts me with a notification in my inbox, prompting me to consider sending a follow-up to ensure that everything remains on schedule.”