If you have used your Gmail lately, you may be distracted by its new appearance.
From this week, Google rolled up New artificial intelligence features for its corporate and commercial Gmail plans which are at the front and at the center of your reception box.
Called Gemini, these default AI features include a prominent button “summarizing this email” which appears at the top of all emails and a “help me write” function that appears when you want to write an answer.
Google complaints Gemini are “a strategic thought partner to give life to ideas and find ways to solve problems”, but I think that as a nuisance. Until now, I do not think that Gemini can summarize more quickly than a succinct object line in an email. When I click on the button “Summarize this email”, which I receive takes so long, if not more, so that I can synthesize as a simple email. And in addition to doing more reading, I feel like I was wasting time by checking the responses of Gemini.
However, I see use in the “Help me writing” function for the type of email formulates that people send all the time. Gemini can write answers to your boss according to the previous messaging threads, and you can choose to “formalize”, “developed” or “shorten” what you see. The main problem with this feature is that you must always be a nearby publisher. What is crucial in any working relationship is tone. This is what can point out if you must remain formal buttoned or if you get closer to colleagues.
And Gemini do not yet resume human sarcasm and humor that bind people. When I used the suggestions “Help me to write”, occasional brainstorming emails with my own manager looked too suffocating and formal, even with the “Shorten” option.
And using what Gmail written without modifications could have negative consequences for your career. If I answered the suggestions of my close colleagues using the “best” electronic signature, which Gemini suggested, I think my tone seems strangely cold and a little hostile too.
Even Google himself does not want you to count. “Gemini for the workspace can make mistakes, including people, so come back back” is the recall you see at the bottom of the Gemini pop-up in your reception box.
In addition to efficiency problems, there are data confidentiality problems. Do you want to share your ideas and emails written in Google AI? “Your content is not examined or used for humans for generative training on the AI model outside your field without authorization,” said Google states On its confidentiality hub site. But the parameters of what authorization users have given and when explicitly stated.
For the moment, expect to get used to the features of Google Gemini. If you, like me, miss the old Gmail, of difficult luck. Gmail users have been automatically opted in this feature, and deactivate it has more important consequences for your reception box.
To deactivate Google Gemini and other “intelligent” Google workspace features:
- In Gmail, click the Settings button, then “see all settings.”
- Under the “General” tab, scroll through the intelligent features of the Google workspace “.
- Click on “Manage the Settings of the Smart Works Space” settings “.
- Turn off smart features in Google Workspace.
Keep in mind that deactivating intelligent features is all or nothing. If you activate these features, you will get rid of the prompt “summarizing this email”, but it will also get rid of other “intelligent” functions for a long time, such as the possibility of personalizing your search with keywords or Hit about the emails you received a few days ago, or to be able to see flight routes and Gmail invitations in Calendar.
You don’t have to count on Google AI to erase your reception box. Beyond smart features, you can also use Gmail file and folder systems to organize your reception box and facilitate the summary. Create a file Or label Called “past e-mails”, for example, and move all non-reactivable emails, there is a quick way to facilitate the skimming of many emails-no necessary AI assistant.
And no matter what you plan to do with Gmail’s features from Gemini, my general advice remain. Whether you are in Slack or Gmail, think twice before sharing your most sensitive conversations in an online message.
So many things are lost against tone. If you really need an AI assistant for a workshop more than three paragraphs of a difficult conversation, I suggest asking a meeting where you can talk about it in person.
