Google adds Gemini features to Gmail, message summaries, proofreading

Google The company said Thursday it is adding more Gemini features to Gmail, providing upgrades such as AI-generated summaries of email threads.

“When you open an email with dozens of replies, Gmail synthesizes the entire conversation into a concise summary of key points,” Google wrote in a blog post. The company said it is bringing the AI ​​Overview feature that appears at the top of search results to Gmail inboxes.

The updates come as Google deploys Gemini AI technology across its broad portfolio of consumer products. Google is relying on its massive customer base to gain an advantage as it battles companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and others in the fast-growing generative AI market. Google says Gmail now has more than 3 billion users.

Powered by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, Google’s parent company Alphabet took the top spot Apple Its market cap fell for the first time since 2019 on Wednesday, leaving the stock, the best performer among tech megacaps last year, to continue its rise. OpenAI, meanwhile, rose to a private market cap of $500 billion late last year, and Anthropic said Wednesday it was valued at $350 billion in a new round of funding.

Google said its latest updates will be rolled out gradually and some features will be turned on by default in their inboxes, meaning users who don’t want them will have to opt out of the feature.

One of the new features is “Suggested Replies,” which Google says uses the content of a user’s emails to create one-click replies. This is an update to a previous tool called “Smart Replies”. The company is also developing a proofreading option to check grammar and make messages shorter.

Last year, Google’s Gemini integration in Gmail allowed users to do things like search for messages, draft emails from prompts, improve grammar, and create custom replies.

— CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.

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