Another big AI change: Gemini will read your emails, here’s how to turn it off in Gmail

What Gemini brings to your boxčić

Google has introduced a whole series of new tools that turn Gemini into a personal assistant inside your inbox. One of the most prominent innovations is “AI Overviews”, a feature that is more known to users of the Google search engine. Instead of manually searching through old messages, you can now ask a question in natural language, such as “Who sent me a quote for a bathroom renovation last year?”, and Gemini will scan your messages and provide a concise reply with key information and a link to the original email. In addition, AI Overviews automatically collapses long conversation threads, which saves time when following complex discussions.

For those who struggle with writing, there is a “Help me write” tool that can compose an entire message draft based on short instructions or improve an existing text. The upgraded “Suggested Replies” offers contextually relevant replies that mimic your writing style, while the “Proofread” tool corrects grammar and offers stylistic modifications.

The most ambitious change is the so-called “AI Inbox”, currently available only to a select group of testers. This view intelligently organizes your inbox, putting priorities and urgent tasks at the top, like an unpaid bill or a meeting reminder, while collapsing less important messages into the “Catch me up” category. Some of these features, such as summaries and writing assistance, have become available to all users, while more advanced options such as search with assistance; AI and proofreading reserved for subscribers to premium AI packages.

The price of progress – your privacy?

Unatoč impressive possibilities, the integration of Gemini also caused a wave of criticism. Cybersecurity experts warn that Google has automatically turned on options that potentially allow it to use your private messages and attachments to train its AI models. Engineer Dave Jones caused a storm on social networks with his announcement.

​- VAŽNA message for everyone using Gmail. You are automatically ON to allow Gmail access to all your private messages and attachments for training AI models. You have to manually turn off ‘Smart Features’ in settings in TWO locations – Jones wrote.

The concern is further strengthened by the fact that the majority against Google also filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company “secretly” included Gemini in order to “access and use the entire recorded history of private communications of its users.” Google called those claims “misleading”, pointing out that “Smart Features” in Gmail have existed for years and that content from Gmail is not used to train the Gemini model. However, many users remain skeptical.

How to turn off Gemini and what you lose

If you want to keep more control over your data, it’s possible to turn these features off, but Google hasn’t made the process intuitive. The problem is that Gemini doesn’t have its own interruptč; its functions are connected to the “Smart Features” package. By turning off Gemini, you will also give up a number of other useful tools that you may be used to.

On a computer, the process requires going to “All Settings” (the gear icon), where under the “General” tab you should find the “Smart Features and Personalization” section. There it is necessary to turn off the option for smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet, and then in a separate window the personalization option for other Google products such as Maps and Wallet. A similar procedure must be repeated in the mobile application, within the settings of your account under the “Data privacy” menu.

However, giving up on AI comes at a price. By turning off these options, you lose functions such as automatic sorting of mail into “Promotions” and “Social Networks” categories, smart composing of sentences (“Smart Compose”), and even basic spell checking. Practical integrations such as automatically adding events to the calendar or tracking shipments also disappear.

In the end, the decision is up to each user. Google is clearly pushing for a future where artificial intelligence is an indispensable part of everyday tools. The only question is whether we are ready to trade some of our privacy for the practicality that this future brings.