At Google’s I/O developer conference, there weresome big announcements, such as the ability to ask questions about a live feed from your phone and even a hint about anew AR glasses product. But the thing that got my co-workers most excited was the integration of Gemini into Gmail. Google showcased some AI-powered tools such as the ability to summarize your emails so you don’t have to read through them all. You could even summarize a Google Meet video you’ve been sent.
The first of these features have now started rolling out and are already available for some users within the Gmail app and on the web.
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What Gmail Gemini features are rolling out?
A new side panel offers some useful tools
The updates to Gmail include a new Gemini side panel in the web version of Gmail that you can use to interact with theAI chatbot. Using the side panel, it will now be possible to:
For example, if you’ve been away for a few days, you may come back to find an enormous email thread about a major issue at work. Reading through the huge chain of emails would normally eat up a big chunk of your first day back, but now you can ask Gemini to summarize your emails and get up to speed in no time at all.
Using search, you may ask questions such as “What time is the next senior management meeting?” and Gemini will extract the information from your emails within you needing to hunt through them all.
Now you can ask Gemini to summarize your emails and get up to speed in no time at all.
On Android and iOS, you can also use theGmail appwith Gemini. Although there’s no sidebar, you can tap Gemini suggestions such asSummarize this emailto access the same summaries that you can generate in the web version of Gmail. TheSmart ReplyandGmail Q&Afeatures aren’t yet available in the Gmail app, but Google says that these will be coming soon.
Can anyone use these Gmail Gemini features?
If you want access, you’ll need to pay for the privilege
If you’re a free Gmail user, you’re not going to be getting access to these useful tools anytime soon. Even if you have aGoogle One Premiumsubscription, the features won’t be available; you’ll need aGoogle One AI Premium subscription, which is more than twice the price.
If you’re a free Gmail user, you’re not going to be getting access to these useful tools anytime soon.
If you have a Google Workspace account, you still won’t have access to these features unless you’re paying for a Gemini add-on. You’ll need either theGemini Business and Enterprise add-onor theGemini Education and Education Premium add-onin order to access the new AI tools.
Why can’t I access the Gmail Gemini tools?
The rollout will take some time depending on your location
Although the features started rolling on out June 24, it will take some time until they’re available to everyone. If you’re part of the Google Workspace Rapid Release program, rollout of the Gmail web features started onJune 24and the features can take up to three days to appear. For those on the standard Scheduled Release, rollout will start onJuly 8, and takeup to 15 daysto complete.
For the mobile app, rollout started onJune 24and will takeup to 15 daysfor full rollout. This applies to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release accounts.
