Google is rolling out new artificial intelligence features in Gmail to help users write emails, summarise information, and manage tasks. The move is part of the company’s push to make Gmail more than just an email service, turning it into a personal assistant that can organise users’ inboxes and improve productivity.
The AI features, announced Thursday, are initially available in English in the United States, with plans to expand to other languages and countries later this year. One of the main tools, called “Help Me Write,” is designed to learn a user’s writing style and offer real-time suggestions for composing or refining emails.
Subscribers to Google’s Pro and Ultra services will also gain access to a feature similar to the AI-powered Overviews tool in Google Search. This allows users to type conversational questions into Gmail’s search bar to quickly extract information buried in their inboxes.
Another experimental feature, “AI Inbox,” is being tested with a small group of trusted users in the US. It can scan inboxes to suggest to-do lists and highlight topics that may require attention. Blake Barnes, Google vice president of product, described the feature as an effort to make Gmail “proactively have your back.”
All of the new functionality is powered by Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 3, which was integrated into its search engine in 2025. The update received widespread attention and prompted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company makes ChatGPT, to declare a “code red,” highlighting the competitive pressure in the AI sector.
While the new features could make Gmail more useful, they also raise potential risks. Experts warn that AI-generated content may occasionally be misleading or incorrect, and privacy concerns persist when AI systems access personal emails. Google said users can turn off the features at any time and proofread AI-suggested content before sending.
To address privacy, Google said no personal content processed by Gmail’s AI will be used to train the Gemini models. The company has also implemented engineering measures to protect inbox information from external access.
Gmail, which launched nearly 22 years ago and now serves more than three billion users worldwide, has faced privacy scrutiny before, particularly when it introduced targeted ads based on inbox content. Google says the new AI tools are designed with safeguards to prevent similar concerns from arising.
The rollout represents a significant step in Google’s effort to integrate AI across its services, potentially reshaping how people interact with email and manage information online.
