If you don’t want Google’s AI to invade your inbox and use your messages for training, we suggest disabling Gemini in Gmail. This way, you can continue using your email client as usual.
Gmail is the most popular email provider on the internet. This is largely because, when it launched, it offered plenty of free storage space . This allowed you to send and receive attachments without worrying about their size. But Gmail’s free service came with a catch: advertising . This issue caused, and continues to cause, controversy. Today, the controversy has a different name: Gemini. Google’s AI integrates with Gmail to offer message summaries, compose your own emails, and more. But not everyone wants AI in their inbox. So, if you wish, you can disable Gemini in Gmail .
On the one hand, Gemini’s arrival in Gmail is great news . You can now use Google’s AI to process your emails and automate related tasks. However, not everyone is happy about having artificial intelligence in their inbox. Despite Google’s denial that your messages will be used to train Gemini, years ago they also denied using emails to personalize in-app advertising . And, over time, we learned that wasn’t entirely true.
So, if you want to use Gmail as your email provider but without the advertised benefits of Gemini, you can disable Gemini in Gmail . We’ll tell you how to do it and what the implications are. Plus, you can always change your mind , as this option is available to all users at any time.
How to disable Gemini in Gmail
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You can disable Gemini in Gmail on both the desktop web version and the mobile app. While the steps may vary slightly, they are quite similar. The process involves disabling the enabled options related to “smart features” or similar features. Let’s look at the steps for PC or Mac, using your web browser.
- Access Gmail from your browser.
- Click on Settings . The icon is shaped like a gear.
- Go to View all settings .
- Turn off the Smart Features option .
- Go to Manage Workspace smart feature settings .
- Turn off the Smart Features option in Google Workspace .
- Optionally, you can also disable Gemini “on other Google products”.
- When you’re finished, click Save .
- You will see a message that says Your preferences have been saved .
If you want to reactivate Gemini in Gmail, it’s easy. First, if you disabled the smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet , you’ll see a notification in your inbox prompting you to reactivate them. Alternatively, you can always follow the previous steps to reactivate the Google Workspace smart features. Disabling and reactivating Gemini in Gmail is quick and easy.
Advantages and disadvantages of using Gemini
It’s clear that if you use Gmail, it’s because you trust Google. Or because you let them get away with whatever they do with your data. But this doesn’t prevent you from making certain decisions about it, such as disabling Gemini in Gmail. To prevent Google from using your emails for its own purposes , the best solution is to switch email providers. But if you don’t want to or can’t do that, you can make minor changes like the one we’ve mentioned. This way, you’ll stop seeing Gemini everywhere , or at least in your inbox .
What advantages does Gemini offer in Gmail, according to Google? First, with the AI Overviews feature , it “turns information into answers without requiring in-depth research. When you open a thread with dozens of replies, Gmail synthesizes the entire conversation into a concise summary of the key points.”
Other Gemini features in Gmail include helping you compose messages , proofread your text (with Proofread ) , and adapt it to the context of the conversation with the Smart Replies feature. Finally, Gemini in Gmail adds a new inbox. The AI Inbox displays the content of your received messages in a different, more structured , and categorized way, instead of an endless list of emails and threads.
Drawbacks ? Despite Google’s denials , you’re not entirely sure what Gemini does with your emails. So, one option is to disable Gemini in Gmail. You also don’t know the extent to which Gemini trains itself on your messages, what content it processes and how, whether it encrypts that information, or if it stores some emails on its servers , etc. And this isn’t the first time Google has done something it shouldn’t until someone discovers it.
