Google AI Inbox: Smart Email Management Reinvented

It's a potentially huge shift in how you might navigate your Gmail, especially if you have a lot to sort through or if you (like me) already use your inbox as a to-do list. In a demo video, AI Inbox suggests tasks like rescheduling a dentist appointment, replying to a coach, and paying a sports tournament fee, and also summarizes topics to catch up on, like a team's soccer season and a family gathering. Google is initially rolling AI Inbox out to "trusted testers" in the US using browsers, and it will be available first for consumer Gmail accounts -- you can't use it with Workspace accounts yet.

There's also not yet a way to mark if you have completed one of the suggested items -- it's something Google is working on, according to the company's VP of product for Gmail, Blake Barnes -- meaning that Gmail won't yet know if, for example, you call somebody based on Gmail's recommended action, rather than emailing them. Barnes also says there's no limit to the number of to-dos Gmail might suggest. While AI Inbox tries to prioritize what's important to you based on signals like who you email and what things you respond to the quickest, too many to-dos could just perpetuate inbox overwhelm but with a new design.

Still, given how much of our lives flows through our inboxes, if AI Inbox is even somewhat successful at making timely recommendations and summarizing important emails, the feature could be quite useful. All consumer Gmail users are also getting suggested replies with personalization, AI overviews for thread summaries, and Google's Help Me Write tool -- all features Google has previously included with paid plans -- at no extra cost.