Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Gmail’s AI Inbox is now available in beta for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US.
- The feature replaces traditional unread counts with “To-dos” and “Topics” to prioritize important emails from VIPs and other categories, such as bills and appointments.
- Access is currently exclusive to the $250-per-month Ultra plan, though wider availability may come later.
If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of emails you receive, and the current crop of tools like labels don’t work for you, Google has a handy AI Inbox it wants to sell to you. Announced at the start of this year, Gmail’s AI Inbox filters important emails from your “VIPs” and from email contents, and organizes them in a sort of to-do list for you to chew through. If the idea sounds appealing, you can now try it out through the Google AI Ultra plan in the US.
Google has announced that AI Inbox is rolling out today in beta for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US.
AI Inbox was previously available only to select testers. Google had promised that broader availability would be coming “later in the year.” With this expansion, Google is indeed allowing more users into the fold, but it’s important to keep in mind that the Google AI Ultra plan costs a neat $250 per month. It’s a plan that only hardcore AI users will be subscribed to, as it offers the highest usage limits and access to Gemini and the rest of Google’s AI tools, 30TB of Google Cloud storage, Google Home Premium Advanced plan, YouTube Premium, and more. By itself, AI Inbox might not be worth the $250 per month fee, but existing subscribers might find its inclusion quite fruitful.
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AI Inbox exists as a separate label in Gmail’s sidebar. It does away with the conventional number of unread messages, and instead, segments your unread emails into two sections: To-dos and Topics. This lets you focus on action items right away, including the important stuff from your VIPs, any bills due soon, upcoming appointments and meetings, and reminders for missed emails.
Google also identifies whether you’ve already looked at the tasks suggested by AI Inbox based on signals such as reading, archiving, or deleting the email. It will also bring a “Mark as done” option to the feature in the near future. The company also assures that all processing is secure and takes place within Gmail.
While not announced today, it makes sense for Google to slowly expand rollout beyond the AI Ultra plan. There’s no real reason the feature shouldn’t eventually become available to Google AI Pro plan users, aside from its beta status. We hope to see the feature reach more users globally, perhaps even to free-tier Gmail, as more people can benefit from an AI assistant for their overflowing email inbox.
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