Google was all about AI at its annual I/O event last week. The tech giant wants its Gemini AI model everywhere and plans to put it in all of its devices.
It also plans on bringing its AI into more of its services. One of those services getting the AI upgrade is Gmail.
Over the course of the upcoming weeks, Gmail users will begin seeing AI summaries of their email, according to a blog post from Google. This summary will provide bullet points of what was in the email as well as any follow-up replies to make sure you're up to date.
This feature will only be available on emails in English. Those who don't care for AI summarizing their correspondence can opt out of the feature, but it will be enabled by default.
Google began instituting AI features into Gmail last year by having Gemini provide instant replies that no longer sounded generic.
Google's problems with AI
At the same time, Google is implementing new AI features, but some people have found the company's AI is far from perfect.
A post on Reddit went viral earlier in the week when a screenshot of an interaction with an AI summary on Google Search was unable to determine what the current year was.
And yet we can't turn this off from r/google
In the screenshot, the individual did a Google search asking, "Is it 2025?" The AI summary they received apparently had issues with the question saying, "It is not 2025. The current year is 2024." Other people on X posted similar results.
Wired did multiple tests over this prompt and confirmed the issue. In one case, the AI summary reiterated that it was 2024, but said that in parts of New Zealand and Russia, it was 2025. It even went on to contradict itself, saying that it was 2025 after claiming it was 2024.
A Google spokesperson says it was working on the problem.
“As with all Search features, we rigorously make improvements and use examples like this to update our systems. The vast majority of AI Overviews provide helpful, factual information, and we're actively working on an update to address this type of issue,” Meghann Farnsworth, a Google spokesperson, told Wired.
As of the publication of this article, Googling "is it 2025" returns with an AI summary saying, "Yes, according to the provided information, the current year is 2025." It remains to be seen if this problem will happen again in 2026.
