Ever opened a long email thread and wished someone would just give you the key highlights? Google now wants Gemini to do exactly that.

While AI-generated summaries may save time for some users, many may not be comfortable with Google’s AI analysing their inboxes. With Gmail’s AI summaries now rolling out worldwide, users also have the option to turn the feature off.

Google has expanded Gemini-powered conversation summaries in Gmail to free users globally across Android, iOS, and the web. The feature, which was initially available to paid Google AI subscribers and later extended to free users in the US, is now reaching users worldwide.

According to an update on Google’s support pages, “AI Overviews conversation summaries” are now available across paid, Workspace and free Gmail accounts globally. The rollout spans Android, iOS, and web platforms, although support is currently limited to select languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

The AI-generated summaries use Gemini to analyse the contents of an email thread and provide a condensed overview of the conversation. The feature is designed to help users catch up on lengthy discussions without reading every message individually.

Users who do not want Gemini to analyse their emails can disable workspace smart features in Gmail.

To do this, open Gmail and go to Settings. Then, under the General tab, locate Google Workspace smart features, then select the Manage Workspace smart features setting. Click on the disable option.

Once disabled, Gemini-powered summaries and other smart features will no longer function within Gmail.

While turning off the setting prevents Gemini from generating summaries of email conversations, it also disables several Workspace-related AI capabilities, such as Google Drive and Google Tasks. Users may also be unable to perform actions such as creating reminders through Gemini, making the decision a balance between privacy preferences and AI-powered convenience.

Google has been steadily integrating Gemini across its Workspace ecosystem over the past few years. While the company’s initial AI features focused on writing assistance, it later introduced AI-generated summaries in Gmail and Google Drive.

Beyond conversation summaries, Gmail also offers additional Gemini-powered tools, including AI Inbox summaries and the “Ask Gemini” feature, which can answer questions based on email content. However, these broader capabilities remain exclusive to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US.

The wider rollout reflects Google’s efforts to bring generative AI tools to a larger user base.

(This article has been curated by Shivani P Menon, who is an intern with The Indian Express)