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Google today made three Gmail AI features free for all personal account holders in the United States, removing the subscription requirement that previously locked them behind its Google AI Pro or Ultra tiers.

gmail-icon.png

"Help Me Write" allows users to enter prompts to draft entire emails from scratch. Like Apple Intelligence's Writing Tools, Help Me Write includes refinement options like Formalize, Elaborate, and Shorten, and users can also apply Polish to messages they've already written. The feature is available on the web, Android, and iOS, and can be accessed by tapping the pen icon with an AI spark badge.

Gmail is also rolling out personalized Suggested Replies, an evolution of Smart Replies that goes beyond generic responses. The feature analyzes conversation context and matches a user's writing tone and style. For example, if a colleague asks about rescheduling a meeting for another day, Suggested Replies can draft an initial response that reflects how the user typically communicates, after which it can be reviewed before sending.

The third newly free feature is AI summaries for long email threads. When opening a lengthy conversation, an AI Overview card may appear at the top with a bulleted summary of points discussed.

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All three features are rolling out today to personal account users in the U.S., with global availability coming later.

The changes come amid Google's preview of a new "AI Inbox" feature arriving in the next few months. The redesigned view will appear as a new option alongside the traditional inbox, offering a personalized briefing that surfaces important information without requiring users to open individual messages.

Google's AI Inbox also includes a "Suggested to-dos" section highlighting bills, reminders, and short-term tasks, along with "Topics to catch up on" that provides context for messages that are important but not immediately actionable. The feature is currently available to Trusted Testers and will roll out more broadly later this year, according to Google.

Article Link: Gmail Users Can Now Use These Three AI Features Without Paying
 
I deliberately stayed away from all the “Smart Features” offered by Gmail before and now am gradually drifting away towards Apple Mail.

I mean, technically Gmail is still superior to Apple Mail, yet I do not trust them on the long run, as we cannot even use Gemini anonymously with the native app.
 
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I've been using Gmail since it required an invite, sometime in the fall of 2004, but I really don't like the way this is going. Since I already have an established Proton Mail account; maybe it's time to make a full-time change.

The force-feeding of AI needs to stop, across the board.
 
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Please do a howto article on disabling all this garbage
This. I don’t want Google’s AI reading and knowing everything on my inbox. Luckily I don’t have a lot of information on my Gmail, but I’m afraid other actors such as Microsoft will implement it on their free mail services…
 
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Incredible how Alphabet has adopted AI to their fully verticially integrated AI-system.
Alphabet is firing on all cylinders while Apple remains "AI = Apple Incompetence".
 
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