In a recent development, Google has started rolling out new AI-powered features for its email management platform, Gmail. These features include the Gemini side panel and summarize functions that are now available on Gmail, iOS, Android, and various Workspace apps such as Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drive.
The Gemini side panel is designed to make managing emails more efficient by providing AI-powered tools for summarizing email threads and drafting new emails. It also allows users to ask freeform questions or request specific information from their inbox or Google Drive files.
Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Drive users can benefit from the Gemini side panel as well. In Docs, it can help write and refine content, summarize information, brainstorm new ideas based on other files. In Slides, it generates new slides with custom images and summarizes presentations. For Sheets users, it assists in organizing data by creating tables and formulas.
In Drive, the Gemini side panel can summarize documents and provide quick facts about projects without requiring users to sift through numerous files. It's important to note that these features are currently available only for paid Google Workspace customers with specific plans like Gemini Business or Enterprise add-ons, Gemini Education add-ons, or Google One AI Premium subscribers.
The rollout of these new features began in May 2024 and is expected to continue over the coming weeks. The Summarize feature for Android and iOS condenses long email threads into bite-sized summaries, which users can rate with a thumbs up or down to help improve the AI's performance.
Google's commitment to enhancing productivity through AI continues with these new features, making managing emails and other documents more convenient than ever before.