If you utilize Gmail, you have most likely seen the Gemini AI options now in your inbox. Previously an add-on that you simply needed to activate, Gemini is now in your face everytime you’re typing emails, scrolling your inbox and dealing in Google Drive.
For some, it is a welcome addition. For others, it is a privateness concern (or simply plain annoying). Though it is price mentioning that Google has all the time had entry to emails in Gmail, and privateness guarantees by huge tech are flimsy at greatest. But giving AI entry to inboxes and making it onerous to choose out needs to be trigger for concern.
Gemini AI launched in December 2023 and has been rolling out options throughout Google’s ecosystem since then. As of January 2025, Gemini AI turned a free characteristic in Gmail for Google Workspace customers — over three billion customers globally.
If you favor to maintain Gemini out of Gmail, this is what you must do.
Where to search out Gemini in your Gmail
In your Gmail inbox, you will spot Gemini in just a few locations — within the high right-hand facet subsequent to settings, in e mail drafts and in e mail chains.
You’ll additionally see it in Google Drive, Docs and different workspace views.
I hadn’t really performed round with Gemini in Gmail but, so earlier than I removed it, I wished to see what it might do. I opened a brand new e mail message and clicked on the “assist me write” button and noticed the scrolling prompts for various wants. Things like “write to my accomplice wishing them a cheerful anniversary,” “a thanks letter for my job interview” and “an apology to my kid’s trainer for his or her absence.”
These prompts have been irrelevant for me, so I added one in: “a comply with up for my latest name with Veronika.” But it wasn’t very clever, because it did not even pull from the earlier e mail dialog with Veronika or make observe of the assembly we had this week — it simply got here again with a generic e mail that could possibly be for anybody.
I’ve even had hassle with human assistants drafting emails for me as a result of they lack personalization, which is essential to constructing relationships as a freelancer.
Gemini might come in useful summarizing previous e mail chains, particularly when making an attempt to recall outdated conversations. I picked a present e mail dialog that had a historical past over 4 years and clicked “summarize this e mail.”
The abstract was useful as a refresher, however nothing that may have had a big impact on my productiveness. At this stage, having Gemini in Gmail nonetheless looks like a distraction.
For the time being, till I do know extra about how my knowledge is used (past a generic T&Cs promise that is onerous to interpret), I want it toggled off.
How to show off Gemini AI Gmail
Here’s find out how to flip off Gemini:
- Log into your Gmail account.
- Click on Settings (the cog icon within the top-right bar).
- Press See all settings.
- In the General tab, scroll right down to Google Workplace sensible options and click on on the button.
- Turn off sensible options in Google Workspace and click on Save. This will block Gemini AI from Gmail, Chat, Meet and Drive. You can take away Gemini from Google Maps, Wallet, Google Assistant and the Gemini app, too.
What’s irritating concerning the toggle perform is the dearth of customization. For instance, I do not need Gemini AI in my Gmail, however I wish to present occasions from Gmail in my Google Calendar, resembling upcoming flights. So, there is perhaps a testing interval after you have toggled it off to see in case you want the performance.
I checked again in Gmail after I toggled Gemini off. Both the “assist me write” and “summarize this e mail” prompts had disappeared from my inbox.
When I clicked on the “assist me write” icon within the e mail bar, it opened a message asking if I wished to show it on.
Remember, it is nonetheless early days with AI in e mail, so even in case you select to show it off now, you’ll be able to reactivate it down the monitor. The longer AI instruments are in the marketplace, the higher they get, so there is not any have to rule it out eternally.
With all AI instruments, keep curious however cautious.
