Email Service Gmail now Employs AI for Priority Inbox Sorting, User Option for Disabling Available
Revamped Take on Gmail's AI Search Overhaul
Getting used to Google's search functionality in Gmail? You're likely accustomed to the temporal sequence of results, with the most recent ones gracing the top. But that routine might be shaken up soon. In a surprising turn of events, Google is introducing an AI-powered search feature for Gmail on both web and mobile platforms (As announced in a blog post on March 24, 2023). Yes, it's 2023, and of course, the new feature is fueled by good old AI.
The concept is to utilize artificial intelligence to deliver more pertinent search results, rather than showing results based on recency. While the AI does factor in the freshness of the emails, it also considers messages you've been clicking feverishly, along with frequent communicators. The goal is to have your desired emails show up at the summit of the list with every search, making the process smoother.
However, every change brings a pinch of friction. Our minds have developed a search muscle memory, trained to scan emails by their chronological sequence. Hence, it might be jarring to skip over a result, only to have a more recent one magically appear below it. There's also the AI aspect to grapple with: Will this brainy assistant be on the ball, or will it succumb to hallucinations and morph the search into another AI Overviews debacle?
AI Search in Gmail: A Blessing in Disguise?
I'm usually skeptical of AI, but give it to me straight-this change might just work. Specifically, I discovered the new search experience proved particularly useful for emails that were decidedly not fresh off the press. For instance, in my quest for "graduation" results, the old "Most recent" approach churned out emails from the past few days, making my search nonsensical given my long-ago graduations. The new "Most relevant" search, on the other hand, delivered mostly personal emails, even though they might not have been graduation-related.
The same goes for "reservation" queries. The traditional sorting method dished out a dizzying array of promotions, newsletters, and hotel rewards account emails. In contrast, the AI-powered search brought up relevant results, such as dinner reservations, flight bookings, and even a past hotel stay-results aligned with my search objective.
Mastering the Art of Disabling Gmail's AI Search
However, the new search experience might not resonate with everyone, particularly those hunting for specific, recent emails. The good news is that Google hasn't taken away the ability to search by recency; it just made the new search the default, which could lead to some unnecessary bafflement.
The secret to toggling back to the "Most recent" search is relatively hidden but simple once you know the way. The next time you peruse Gmail, look for "Most relevant" above the top search result, on the left side. A little dropdown arrow will accompany it. Click this arrow, and select "Most recent" from the "Sort by" menu that pops up. And there you have it-chronological bliss!
[4]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/24/google-changes-gmail-search-ai- facial-recognition
- The revamped AI Search in Gmail, due to launch in 2025, aims to sort search results based on relevance instead of recency, even returning older emails that might be more relevant to a user's query.
- Interestingly, the new AI-powered search feature in Gmail is set to definitely sort emails based on their relevance to a search query, not just their recency, as was previously the case.
- By 2025, Google's overhauled AI search in Gmail will likely return more relevant results, even if they're not the most recent emails, adding a new twist to how users sort through their emails.
