Google's AI in Gmail gets it right with ‘Help me write’ feature

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Google to look for deserving or undeserving help. Google is ready to help more with sprinkles of AI magic. The ‘Help me write’ feature in Gmail is an excellent AI tool to use to draft emails.

Gmail has always had the smart compose feature, but its capabilities were restricted. ‘Help me write’ builds on that and relies on generative AI to get the job done. Right next to the send button in Gmail, there’s a Help me write tab.

Much like you do with any generative AI, this too works on a prompt. So, for instance, you have to follow up on a meeting and need to send a boring email which you just don’t feel like writing, this feature will help. Simply put in a few words in the prompt, like “Email follow-up meeting Thursday no response for 5 days”.

It might sound gibberish, but it works. In a couple of seconds, you will get a near-perfect draft which can be immediately sent. The AI functionality doesn’t end there as Google gives you four options in case you aren’t satisfied with what came up in the first place.

These are “formalise”, “shorten”, “elaborate”, and “I am feeling lucky”. The email tonality and length will be adjusted depending on what option you choose. It works remarkably well and will be used by many — both professional and personal.

It does lack the human ‘tone’ and attempts to make it ‘fun’ fell flat as a sense of humour is something that this piece of AI certainly lacks. Do keep in mind that Gmail will not write sensitive, confidential emails. Google has made that clear.

So, for instance, if you put in your bank account details for an email, the feature will reject it. Or if you want to put a harassment complaint against someone and ask for a prompt, that too will be rejected. The feature is a part of Google’s