When Google rolled out Gemini side panels for Gmail and its other Workspace apps, it revealed that its AI chatbot will also be able to provide intelligent status responses for its email service in the future. Now, the company has officially released that feature. Smart replies have been in Gmail since 2017, giving you a quick, albeit impersonal, way to reply to messages, even when you’re in a hurry or on the go. These machine-generated responses are very limited, however, and are usually one-liners to tell the recipient that you understand what they’re saying or that you agree with whatever they’re suggesting.
The new smart replies generated by Gemini take into account the full content of the email thread. Although you still need to edit them a bit if you want them to be as close to your writing as possible, they are very detailed and personable. When you get the feature, you’ll see several reply options at the bottom of your screen when replying through the Gmail app. Just hover over all of them to get a detailed preview before choosing the one you think gives the best answer.
You’ll be able to access the feature if you have the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education or Education Premium add-on, or if you have a subscription to Google One AI Premium. Google says it could take up to 15 days before you see Gemini’s smart replies in your app — just make sure you tick “Smart features and personalization” on your Gmail app’s settings page.