Google announced a new AI Inbox for Gmail, designed to give you a personalized overview of your tasks and keep you informed of important updates. Gmail is also launching AI overview in search and a Grammarly-like “proofreading” feature. Additionally, Gmail offers several AI features to all users that were previously only available to paid users.
The new AI Inbox tab has two sections: Suggested tasks and Topics to keep up with. The first section provides a summary of the highest priority emails that require action. For example, your bill is due tomorrow, or you need to call your dermatologist to confirm your address so they can ship your prescription refill.
The Latest Topics section shows updates like “Your Lululemon return is being processed and your ordered Metal Vent Tech shirt has been delivered” or “Year-end statement is now available from Wealthfront.” These various updates are grouped into different categories such as “Financials” and “Purchases.”
“This means we’re proactively supporting our customers and delivering Gmail to them, showing them what they need to do and when they need it done,” Blake Barnes, Google’s vice president of products, said in a briefing with reporters. “Don’t worry, you’ll still have your classic inbox. It’s a new view that you can switch between views as needed to cut through the noise of your incoming emails.”
Google will roll out the AI Inbox feature to trusted testers and then make it more widely available in the coming months.
With the new AI Overview in Gmail Search, users can now use natural language questions to search their inbox for faster answers, instead of relying on traditional keyword searches and opening multiple emails to find specific information.
For example, you can ask, “Who was the plumber who gave me a quote for my bathroom renovation last year?” You then get an AI summary that pulls answers from your emails and highlights the important details you need.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
“We scour every email in your inbox and put the answers to your questions at the top,” Blake said. “So, just like Google Search’s AI Overview, you can ask a question in natural language and get an AI-powered response. But in Gmail, the model relies solely on your email, your personal memory brain, to generate a response.”
This new feature is rolling out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.
Google says all of Gmail’s AI features are optional, it doesn’t use personal content to train its underlying models, and it processes personal data in a strictly isolated environment.
Google says the new Proofread feature is designed to help refine and refine your writing by analyzing your drafts and improving clarity and structure. One click provides suggestions for word choice, brevity, active voice, and breaking up complex sentences.
For example, if you write something like “This may be a nuisance,” Gmail will suggest changing it to “This may be a nuisance.” It also flags when you use the wrong word, such as “weather” instead of “whether”. Basically, it’s similar to popular proofreading services like Grammarly.
By rolling out its own proofing tools, Google is likely hoping that people will stop relying on third-party tools or connecting their email to ChatGPT to fix problems.
Proofread is rolling out to subscribers of the paid subscription tiers Google AI Pro and Ultra.
While these new features will only be available to some users, Google announced that Gmail’s “Help Me Write,” AI summaries for threaded emails, and “suggested replies” will be available to all users. These features were previously available only to paid subscribers.
Help Me Write helps you compose emails from one prompt. On the other hand, the AI summary of threaded emails provides an overview of long email threads with multiple replies. Reply suggestions use the context of the conversation to provide relevant replies that match your tone and style.
