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ZDNET Highlights
- Google introduced new AI upgrades for Gmail on Thursday.
- These include AI Overview, Proofread, and a new AI Inbox.
- The biggest upgrades have to be delivered to trusted testers first.
Starting in 2026, Google is furthering its mission to bring Gemini to more people with some new AI upgrades for Gmail.
The upgrade – which includes AI Overview, a new proofread feature, and an “AI Inbox” interface – has been engineered with a view to boosting personalization within Gmail. Like other tech giants, Google is pushing to deliver customizable AI tools – which can analyze the context of specific users – to gain an edge in the ongoing AI race.
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“We want (users) to feel like it’s the Gmail they’ve always known and loved, and is more effective,” Gmail VP of product Blake Barnes told ZDNET.
Here’s what you can expect from each new AI feature, how they work, and who can access them.
AI Overview in Gmail
In May 2024, Google launched AI Overview for Search (originally Search Generative Experience, or SGE), a feature that leverages AI to provide summaries of user queries in natural language at the top of search results pages. This feature is now embedded in Gmail.
Previously, users could enter keywords or phrases in the search bar at the top of their Gmail inbox and be directed to relevant messages. AI Overview takes this a significant step forward by allowing users to ask questions or search for topics in natural language, and the algorithm responds with a summary based only on data from that user’s inbox. (Unlike AI Overview for Search, it doesn’t search the entire web when formulating its responses.)
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Let’s say you’re planning a ski trip with a large group of friends. Instead of searching for keywords to bring up specific logistics details from your group thread, you can enter a prompt, like “What should I pack for my upcoming trip to Breckenridge?” The system will generate a personalized response based on your message history.
You can also ask questions like: “How much did I pay in utilities last month?” or “When do I need to give a draft of the new presentation to my team?”
“These are uniquely personal questions that only your inbox can answer, and that’s the difference between core Google search and what we’re doing here with Gmail,” Barnes said.
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Google is also introducing a new AI-powered proofread feature. Think of it as a smart auto-correct tool: When you’re drafting messages in Gmail, the feature will automatically underline words or phrases that can be edited for brevity and/or clarity, and will also suggest some changes.
Proofread and AI Overview within Gmail will initially be available only to G1 Ultra and Pro customers.
AI inbox
The third and final update being released to Gmail now is also the biggest one, as it offers a completely new take on the digital inbox’s native user interface. It’s also probably the riskiest, as it’s by no means clear yet whether most users will prefer it to the traditional Gmail layout. So it’s no surprise that Google is initially rolling this out for its “Trusted Testers” program.
AI Inbox essentially turns Google’s flagship large language model, Gemini, into an intermediary between email senders and recipients. Instead of logging into Gmail and looking at a normal inbox, with messages organized chronologically and displaying the sender’s name, subject, etc., the AI Inbox analyzes all messages and summarizes them into actionable items at the top of the homepage: a “Suggested actions” section, followed by a list of “topics to grab.” However, that layout may change going forward based on initial user feedback.
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“It’s a completely different approach to how to look at (Gmail),” Barnes said. “It’s going into your inbox and synthesizing it — it’s not quite the same experience.”
Don’t worry, Google isn’t replacing the traditional Gmail UI (not yet, anyway). For early testers with access, AI Inbox will be accessible through a separate view that can be selected at the top of the left-hand menu on the Gmail homepage.
According to Google, each of the three new features is now being introduced to users in English and the US, but they will be expanded to other regions and languages in the coming months. Barnes told reporters in a virtual press conference on Wednesday that Google will not collect data from user emails to train its AI models.
The company also today announced other AI-powered features within Gmail that were previously only available to paying subscribers help me write And suggested answers with personalization (an update). smart answer), are now available for free to all users.
