Gmail's AI Inbox Turns Email Into Tasks

This week Google introduced an “AI Inbox” view for consumer Gmail accounts that replaces the classic message list with AI‑generated to‑dos and topics to follow. The feature is still in very early testing and available only to “trusted testers,” but in a hands‑on the Verge reporter Jay Peters found a clear preview of how Gmail could shift from an inbox into an AI‑driven task feed.

Peters reports AI Inbox loads a page of short summaries: suggested to‑dos (with links to the underlying messages), topical catch‑ups, and even items pulled from archived conversations. In his personal inbox the tool surfaced things like tax‑prep notes and potty‑training threads — items the author had already decided didn’t need immediate action.

For people who keep tight inbox systems, Peters says AI Inbox can feel noisy and guess at relevance; for less fastidious users it could be a useful nudge. Google’s VP of product for Gmail, Blake Barnes, told The Verge the company expects people to treat AI Inbox as complementary and is already working on ways to mark tasks complete, add quick replies and suggested drafts, integrate Calendar, and watch for messages from specific senders.

Peters’s verdict: promising and potentially transformational, but not yet something he’ll rely on — especially given how much trust it asks users to place in Google’s AI.