Even if you don’t want AI to summarise your Gmail messages, Gemini would still go ahead. Last year, Gmail for Android and iOS introduced the summarise feature, and now it will be done automatically.

So far, the Gemini-powered capability was a button underneath the subject line that you had to manually tap. It would have opened a sheet with the requested bullet points. That’s changing.

From now on, it will be available at the top of the email content for messages, “such as longer email threads or messages with several replies”. Google says, “Gemini will synthesise" all the key points from the "email thread and any replies thereafter will also be a part of the synopsis, keeping all summaries up to date”.

In the email summary, Gemini will offer bullet points of the salient features of the email and update the summary with subsequent replies to an email thread. For the time being, the summary option will be available for emails in English.

Users have the option to disable automatic AI summaries but that may disable smart features such as high-priority notifications, Smart Compose, Smart Reply, and nudges.

But all of this raises simple questions: Is it that difficult to read an email? Would you trust AI to summarise an important email?