I’m cautious around AI. Most apps tend to take a bare-minimum approach towards AI integrations. They tend to feel like forced additions.
It’s something companies add because, lately, everything needs an AI angle, even if it doesn’t necessarily move the need forward in terms of user experience.
You might find an AI-powered chatbot or a writing assistant that is supposed to make you feel smarter. It rarely does. Most of the time, it adds to the complexity of the app.
That’s why I’m usually skeptical. I don’t want AI writing my emails or turning every task into a conversation. I just want software that saves me time and helps remove repetitive work, instead of creating more of it.
I wasn’t expecting much from Gemini inside Gmail when the integration first rolled out. However, having spent a reasonable amount of time with it, it’s quickly become one of the few AI features I have come to rely on practically every day.
Email is where most of my life is stuck. Between deadlines, emails, meeting confirmations, invoices, follow-ups I need to send, and things I absolutely cannot forget, all end up in the same unified inbox.
As critical as Gmail is for getting my work done, it is also largely an unorganized mess.
Gemini helps because it handles all the parts of email that I hate most. Be it digging through long threads, looking for buried information, or turning emails into an actual task.
Gemini makes email threads easier to manage
Between summaries and quicker searches, it turns your inbox into something usable
The biggest and most helpful use case of Gemini in Gmail is simple — it helps me catch up with information faster.
For example, long email threads are one of the worst parts of modern work. When a simple conversation becomes 15 replies across multiple people, and you’re looking for one little tidbit of information somewhere in that thread, AI comes in handy.
Before Gemini was integrated into Gmail, catching up with that information meant manually reading everything and trying to figure out which details actually mattered.
Gemini changes that because it lets you interact with that email thread.
For example, Google lets Gmail generate summaries of long conversations through the Summarize this email option or through the Gemini side panel.
Quiz
Google Gemini
Trivia Challenge
From Bard to bold redesigns — how well do you know Google’s AI assistant and its evolving look?
OriginsDesignFeaturesBrandingAI Tech
What was the name of Google’s AI chatbot before it was rebranded as Gemini?
Correct! Google Bard launched in March 2023 and was rebranded to Gemini in February 2024. The name change reflected a shift to align the product with Google’s underlying Gemini large language model family.
Not quite — the answer is Google Bard. Bard launched in early 2023 as Google’s answer to ChatGPT, before being rebranded to Gemini in February 2024 to better reflect the AI model powering it.
The Gemini logo is characterized by a distinctive star-like shape. How many points does the Gemini logo mark have?
Correct! The Gemini logo features a four-pointed star that resembles a shimmering light or sparkle. This shape has become one of Google’s most recognisable AI iconography symbols across its product suite.
Not quite — the Gemini logo uses a four-pointed star shape. It’s designed to evoke a glimmering light or spark, and you’ll spot this same motif used across Google’s various AI-powered features throughout its apps.
What potentially controversial design change was Gemini recently spotted testing in its interface?
Correct! Gemini was spotted testing a design that relocates the chat input bar from its traditional bottom position to the top of the screen. This is considered controversial because it breaks from the ergonomic thumb-friendly convention most mobile chat apps follow.
Not quite — the controversial design change being tested is moving the chat input bar from the bottom to the top of the screen. While it may aid discoverability, many users find bottom-placed inputs more comfortable to reach on modern large-screen phones.
Which of the following best describes the Gemini model tier designed for the most complex, high-capability tasks?
Correct! Gemini Ultra is Google’s most powerful model tier, built for highly complex reasoning and multimodal tasks. It sits at the top of a tiered family that also includes Gemini Pro and the lightweight Gemini Nano.
Not quite — Gemini Ultra is the top-tier model. Google structured its Gemini family into tiers: Nano for on-device tasks, Pro for everyday use, and Ultra for the most demanding applications requiring deep reasoning and multimodal understanding.
Which Google Workspace app was one of the first to deeply integrate Gemini AI assistance directly into its interface?
Correct! Gmail was among the first Google Workspace apps to receive deep Gemini integration, offering features like email summarisation and AI-assisted reply drafting. This integration has since expanded across Docs, Sheets, and more.
Not quite — Gmail was one of the earliest and deepest Gemini integrations in Google Workspace. Features like smart summarisation and Help Me Write made it a flagship showcase for what Gemini could do inside everyday productivity tools.
In what month and year did Google officially rebrand Bard to Gemini?
Correct! Google officially rebranded Bard to Gemini in February 2024. The rebrand coincided with the launch of the dedicated Gemini mobile app and the introduction of the Gemini Advanced subscription tier powered by Ultra 1.0.
Not quite — the rebrand happened in February 2024. Google used the occasion to simultaneously launch the standalone Gemini app for Android and introduce Gemini Advanced, a premium subscription offering powered by the Ultra 1.0 model.
What is the primary color associated with the Gemini app icon and branding?
Correct! Gemini’s branding uses a flowing multicolour gradient blending blues, purples, and teals, evoking a cosmic, intelligent feel. This differentiates it visually from Google Assistant’s warmer colour palette and signals its AI-first identity.
Not quite — Gemini uses a multicolour gradient of blues, purples, and teals. The iridescent, almost galaxy-like quality of the palette was a deliberate design choice to set Gemini apart from previous Google AI products and give it a premium, futuristic feel.
What is the name of the lightweight Gemini model variant designed to run directly on-device, including on Android smartphones?
Correct! Gemini Nano is the on-device model designed to run locally on Android hardware without requiring a cloud connection. It powers features like Summarise in Recorder and Smart Reply, and was first deployed on Pixel 8 devices.
Not quite — it’s Gemini Nano. This compact model is optimised to run entirely on-device, meaning it can function without an internet connection. It debuted on the Pixel 8 series and enables privacy-friendly AI features that process data locally on your phone.
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It pulls essential updates from the thread, highlights important points, and keeps those summary updates as new replies come in. It can also surface key action items and context from the conversation.
It’s a big improvement in everyday email-based workflows.
A lot of my work runs over email threads that stretch across multiple days. Be it product launch weeks, editorial planning, coordination with clients, or scheduling calls, it becomes a blur under a deluge of email.
Most of the time, I don’t specifically need that particular email, I just need a nugget of information from it. Did the meeting time get switched, or was a brief approved?
I don’t even need to open a specific email. I can tap the Gemini button in Gmail, ask it a question, and let it scan my emails to find that information.
Still, I read everything for important conversations, especially ones where nuance matters, and I don’t care all that much about Gemini-written email responses.
But for day-to-day administrative work, I don’t need to spend 15 minutes decoding an email chain.
It also helps dramatically when you’re coming back to information after a few days. Instead of trying to remember things, you can ask Gemini to summarize emails about a certain topic or from a certain person.
That alone saves me more than most full-fledged AI productivity tools can.
Most useful when it helps with administrative actions
From calendar events to invoices, this is where AI actually saves me time
Summarizing emails might sound like a pretty huge deal in itself, but that’s the least interesting part of using AI with emails.
Since Gemini can fully tap into my email infrastructure, it means I can use it to act on emails, too.
Take, for example, the calendar integration. Once upon a time, you’d have to open the calendar app separately and add a meeting. Later, Google added the add-to calendar integration. Better, but still manual.
Now, when someone sends a meeting plan, or I have a prospective meeting plan mentioned in an email, I can tap the Gemini button and ask it to add it to my calendar.
It parses through the email, crafts a proper calendar title, adds time and date, and asks me to confirm. It’s brilliant how much time it saves me.
Similarly, if I want to consolidate email invoices for the week, I can ask Gemini. A simple command, like “consolidate invoices for the week,” will tell me exactly how much I spent, where I spent that money, and how much each transaction was for.
It’s made interacting with email a cinch.
That same ability to interact with emails stretches beyond invoices.
You can ask it to make a list of flights you’ve taken in a specific time frame for documentation purposes, or a list of purchases. And the best part is, you don’t have to remember the details or even keywords. Gemini does that for you.
Gemini works best when it stays out of the way
Gemini in Google can do the usual AI stuff, like prompting a response to an email, but to me, that’s the most uninteresting aspect of it.
Gemini reduces friction in your emails and takes the effort out of administrative clutter that naturally builds up around email-forward workflows, making it easier to manage.
Less time searching, fewer missed tasks, and even fewer moments where I know something is in my inbox but cannot figure out where.
And that, to me, is the biggest reason why Gemini in Gmail has been a game-changer.
