Google is giving Gmail an AI makeover
Anyone who uses Google’s prolific e-mail system is going to have an inbox augmented by slick new machine-learning tricks, as of today.
The news: Along with a neat visual redesign, Gmail has introduced a raft of new AI-enabled features—like snoozing e-mails for later, nudging users to respond to messages that need a time-sensitive response, and pre-writing replies to save valuable keystrokes.
Safety first: Security also got a refresh. (Hey, if Google is going to slurp all your data to tune its AI, that’s the least it can do.) A machine-learning algorithm checks every incoming message and alerts users to potential threats with impossible-to-miss color-coded warnings.
Why it matters: Many of these features are already available on Google’s Inbox, a Gmail app geared toward early adopters. But this new roll-out puts AI-powered tools in the hands of 1.4 billion Gmail users (yes, that’s billion). That gives Google another chance to put its massive trove of data to use, and also generate some more—something that might not be an entirely good thing.
Deep Dive
Artificial intelligence
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google
Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.
We are hurtling toward a glitchy, spammy, scammy, AI-powered internet
Large language models are full of security vulnerabilities, yet they’re being embedded into tech products on a vast scale.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.