Google adds AI Inbox and search features to Gmail

Google has unveiled a new AI Inbox for Gmail, designed to provide a personalized overview of tasks and updates. Alongside this launch, the company is introducing AI Overviews in Gmail search and a new Proofread feature. While these new capabilities are rolling out to select users, Google is also making several AI features that were previously restricted to paying subscribers available to all users. These newly free features include Help Me Write and Suggested Replies.

The new AI Inbox is designed to provide a personalized overview of tasks and updates. According to Blake Barnes, VP of Product at Google, the traditional inbox will remain available, and the AI Inbox is simply a new view that users can toggle in and out of as they please to cut through the noise of incoming mail. The AI Inbox tab organizes emails into two specific sections:

• Suggested to-dos: This section displays summaries of emails that require an action.
• Topics to catch up on: This section groups updates into categories to help users stay informed.

Barnes noted that the feature is intended to proactively assist users. “This is us delivering on Gmail proactively having your back, showing you what you need to do and when you need to do it,” Barnes said.

The update also introduces AI Overviews in Gmail search, allowing users to query their inbox using natural language questions rather than traditional keyword searches. Barnes explained that the system searches every email in a user’s inbox to provide answers directly at the top of the search results. Just like AI Overviews in Google Search, users can ask natural language questions to get an AI-powered response. However, in Gmail, the model relies solely on the user’s email history—acting as a personal memory brain—to generate these responses. This search functionality, along with the new Proofread feature—which is a writing tool designed to improve clarity and structure—is rolling out to subscribers of Google’s paid subscription tiers, Google AI Pro and Ultra.

By integrating its own proofreading tool, Google likely hopes to reduce user reliance on third-party tools like Grammarly or prevent them from plugging drafts into ChatGPT to fix them. To address privacy concerns, Google stated that all of Gmail’s AI features are optional. The company says it does not use personal content to train its foundational models and processes personal data in a strictly isolated environment.

Why it matters

Google is integrating AI deeper into the user’s personal workflow, aiming to consolidate productivity tools within Gmail while simultaneously lowering the barrier to entry for its advanced AI features.