What you need to know
- Google announced two updates for Gmail's AI "Help me write," which help quicken the work process, while also increasing its capabilities.
- Now, the company says the AI can mimic how you speak by looking at your writing style and tone from previous emails.
- "Help me write" can now access your other Workspace apps to add relevant information to its draft without your manual input.
- More people can get in on this feature, so long as you have Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra, alongside the usual Workspace accounts.
Gemini's involvement in Gmail can be quite the helping hand, and now Google states it's trying to take that up a level (or two).
Announced this week, Google states in a Workspace post that "Help me write," Gemini's email drafting assistant, is receiving two important personalization updates. The first (and, quite honestly, most intriguing) update this week is "tone and style personalization" for Gemini's help. Google says that when this is active, the AI can draft emails for you "that match the tone and style of your previously written emails."
Essentially, it's like if you were writing it, but not really. The company provides a quick before-and-after view of this, showing how the AI (today) is a little "stiff," you could say. With this personalization upgrade, it'll take a look at how you've written things before and try to parrot that. What's more, the AI's going to start doing more when drafting emails for you.
"Topic contextualization" is Google's official term for the AI's understanding of when to leverage your connected Workspace apps to pull information. After your query, the AI will use "context" from apps like Drive (and details shared in past emails) to fill out the rest of the message. Google intends for this to be helpful, as users won't have to switch between apps as often.
Google foresees this as being useful for users drafting emails about project introductions, potential partnerships, and more.
Advanced Aid
These updates for "Help me write" in Gmail are rolling out for Business, Enterprise, Consumer (Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra), and Education (add-on) customers. Google says it may take up to 15 days before users on Rapid and Scheduled Release domains see it.
Swooping in to help users draft emails is what "Help me write" is all about. Mobile users got this feature before web folks. Once the latter did get it, the feature was pretty much identical to the Android experience. After delivering a prompt, the AI would begin drafting an email you might be satisfied with. However, this computer introduction came with a new function: "polish."
This option replaced the old "refine my draft" button. For drafts over 12 words, the AI would go in and clean up the language and improve its clarity. Gmail got another AI-forward feature earlier this year with its AI Inbox. Gemini will scan your emails to generate quick summaries based on what it's seen. It's like giving you all the key points (hopefully) of your most recent emails, so you can respond to what's important when it matters.
Android Central's Take
You know, if you typically use this sort of feature, then that's good. If you don't, then it's also good. All I can really say is that if you're the former, make sure everything's the way it should be. This is Gen AI, after all. Mistakes can slip in. Word usage might get a little wonky, and you might not want to sound too informal with certain people.
