Latest news with #BlakeBarnes
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Gmail's smart replies get smarter, can now scan inbox and drive to help you out
At Google I/O 2025, the tech giant unveiled major improvements to Gmail's smart replies, powered by its AI assistant Gemini. The update promises more personalised, context-rich suggestions by pulling data not just from your Gmail thread, but also from your Google Drive, calendar, and other linked Workspace tools. Last year, Google enhanced smart replies to go beyond one-liners like 'Sounds good!' by making them longer and slightly more nuanced. Now, with Gemini embedded deeper into Gmail, those suggestions can factor in documents from Google Drive, details from long email threads, and even adjust based on the tone and relationship with the recipient. As Blake Barnes, VP of product for Google Workspace, explained to The Verge, the aim is for Gemini to 'understand the situation you need to respond to' without users having to manually hunt down attachments or re-read lengthy back-and-forths. So, whether you're replying to a manager or a friend, smart replies will now adapt, offering more formal suggestions for professional conversations, and more casual responses for informal ones. Mobile Finder: Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge launched in India In addition to souped-up replies, Gemini will also assist with inbox management. A new feature, 'inbox cleanup,' allows users to simply ask Gemini to delete unread emails from specific senders. The assistant can also suggest meeting times by pulling availability from your calendar, a welcome feature for busy professionals. These features are all expected to enter general availability in Q3 2025, though early testers can try them in Google Labs starting July, according to Google. These advanced smart replies and Gemini-driven features will initially be exclusive to paid Google Workspace plans and Google One AI Premium subscribers. While Barnes said it's 'possible' they may come to free Workspace users in the future, there's no confirmed timeline for that rollout. As with all AI-generated responses, users are urged to review replies carefully before hitting send, especially in sensitive or professional contexts, to avoid any AI-driven inaccuracies or hallucinations. Alongside Gmail, Google announced further AI features for its productivity suite. These include real-time speech translation in Google Meet, AI-generated avatars in Google Vids, and Gemini's ability to pull data directly from linked documents when offering writing suggestions in Google Docs. With Gemini taking a more prominent role across Workspace, Google is pushing towards a future where AI doesn't just assist, it actively understands your workflow, and adapts accordingly.
The Verge
20-05-2025
- The Verge
Gmail's smart replies will use AI to pull context from your inbox and Drive
Gmail's smart replies, which suggest potential replies to your emails, will be able to pull information from your Gmail inbox and from your Google Drive and better match your tone and style, all with help from Gemini, the company announced at I/O. The improvements build on Google's 'contextual' upgrade to smart replies it introduced last year. That change allowed responses to be longer than before, meaning smart replies could be more than a short 'Sounds good!' But they could still only bring in information from the Gmail thread you were in. With the changes announced today, smart replies will theoretically be able to include a lot more context than before. The idea is that 'Gemini can understand the situation that you need to respond to' and take over the task of 'digging through all the other files' and rereading long threads to make sure the response has all the right information, Google Workspace's VP of product, Blake Barnes, tells The Verge. Smart replies can also now account for tone and style based on the person you're talking to, meaning it might suggest more formal replies if you're emailing your manager or more casual ones if you're going back and forth with a friend. 'We're moving from a place where AI is broadly helpful to AI that's helpful for you,' Barnes says. There's the chance that a lot of people end up using this: Barnes declined to share a specific figure of how many people use smart replies, but says that 'there are plenty of people that do.' But as with all AI-generated text, you'll want to double-check that it didn't hallucinate anything before you actually hit send. It would look pretty embarrassing if the smart replies mess up an important fact in an email you send to your boss, after all. The smart replies will be available in English at first, on the web, iOS, and Android and will launch in alpha in Google Labs in July. The feature is expected to become generally available in Q3 of this year. You'll have to pay for these fancier smart replies, though, as they'll launch as part of paid Workspace plans and as part of Google One AI Premium. Over time, it's 'possible' the feature could come to free Workspace users, Barnes says. At I/O, Google announced some other features for Gmail, too. Gemini will be able to help you manage your inbox, like by asking the AI assistant to delete unread emails from a certain sender with a feature it calls 'inbox cleanup.' The tool will be generally available in the third quarter. When you're trying to book a meeting with somebody, Gmail will also use Gemini to show a prompt to suggest proposing times from your calendar. This feature will also be generally available in Q3. Google also announced other features coming to Workspace products, including speech translation in Google Meet, AI avatars in Google Vids, and the ability for Gemini to just pull information from linked documents in a Google Doc when offering writing assistance.
