Google is on the path to an AI-powered ecosystem of products. The company has been adding AI tools to its most used services, and the tools just keep on coming. According to a new report, Smart Reply on Gmail just got a boost thanks to Gemini.
Times truly have changed! Back in 2017, the height of AI was Google Assistant reading you a bedtime story. That was the year that Google introduced Smart Reply, a feature that would suggest replies to give people that you’re having a conversation with. The replies were pretty simple, and not much has changed since then. When you’re in an email conversation, you’ll see the smart replies, but they’ll still be pretty simple and broad in nature.
Smart Reply in Gmail will get the Gemini treatment
A feature like Smart Reply was not safe from Gemini, as it’s a feature that could very well be enhanced. Right now, you can only use it with the Gmail mobile app. As you can imagine, the enhanced Smart Reply will use context awareness. Basically, it will read the email conversation to gain context for what it’s about. Then, it will give you a selection of three different responses that you can send. Those will appear in a carousel at the bottom of the screen.
The suggestions will consist of two parts. The first part will be a line of blue text explaining the direction the response will go in. In the screenshots below, we see that one of them says “Confirm Sunday Launch, ask goals” and another one says “Confirm Sunday Launch, excited”.
So, for the first one, we’re sure that the response will confirm the launch and ask what the sender hopes to achieve with it. The second one confirms the launch and shows how excited the person is about it.
The second part shows you a preview of the text that will go into the text field. When you tap on the suggestion, it will go directly into the field so that you can review and edit it. You’ll want to look it over because generative AI is still relatively new, so there’s the chance that it could mess up on some details.
Who can use this feature?
Right now, you can only use this feature if you’re subscribed to Google One AI Premium or if you’re on the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium plan. So, if you’re a free user, you’re going to have to stick to the old-fashioned way of writing emails… which is writing them.