Gemini is making Gmail’s smart replies smarter

Google’s new contextual smart replies for Android and iOS promise to ‘fully capture the intent of your message.’

by Jess Weatherbed

Sep 27, 2024, 9:29 AM UTC

Automated responses in Gmail can now provide more detail and context for some users on iOS and Android.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Jess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

Google is rolling out a Gemini-powered update to Gmail for Android and iOS that will tailor smart replies more specifically to emails. First announced back in May, Google says its new contextual Smart Replies will “offer more detailed responses to fully capture the intent of your message” by taking the entire content of the email thread into consideration.

Users can hover over each of the suggested contextual smart replies to preview the text, and select the option that best matches their needs or writing style. Suggested replies can be edited or sent immediately. The idea is that this will both save time (especially if you’re often buried in your Gmail inbox) and improve the variety of automated responses available beyond a simple “Yes, I’m working on it” or “No worries, thanks for the heads up!” — even adding an initial greeting and a signoff message.

A screenshot showing an example of the new contextual Smart Replies feature in Gmail.

Provided users are content with the automated options, they may not have to do any typing at all when responding to an email.

Image: Google

The new contextual Smart Replies are now rolling out for Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium, and Google One AI Premium subscribers. The feature is currently only available in English and builds on the original Smart Replies added to Gmail in 2017.

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