If composing the perfect email isn't your forte, help could be on the way from Google, in the shape of a new AI voice feature for Gmail that’s set to make drafting emails less of a chore for Android users.
At its IO event in March last year Google announced a new ‘Help me write’ tool that creates draft emails based on written prompts that you enter – for example, you could ask the AI to draft an email party invitation, or a job application.
The feature is currently only available in Google’s invite-only Workspace Labs program, which enables selected users to try out new AI features before they’re rolled out to users more widely.
Now it appears Google is going one better, by enabling you to submit prompts with your voice, rather than having to type them. The updated feature is called ‘Draft email with voice’ and was spotted by Android blog TheSpAndroid. The new voice feature is also currently only available in Google Workspace Labs, and we don’t yet know when either of these AI tools will be officially released.
Gmail’s new feature goes beyond the voice-typing functions you’ll currently find on a standard keyboard on an Android device. ‘Draft email with voice’, like ‘Help me write’, is integrated within the Gmail app, rather than being an option on your keyboard.
Built into Gmail
As you can see in the images above, ‘Draft email with voice’ opens immediately above your device’s keyboard when you start a new email. You can then tap the microphone icon to start recording your prompt, for example, “Schedule a meeting with John for next Friday at 3pm to discuss the project”.
To submit the prompt, tap ‘Create’ and Gmail will generate a full email draft – you can then edit the text, or ask Gmail to generate a new version, and you can also supply feedback on the generated text.
As mentioned, we don’t yet know when either ‘Help me write’ or ‘Draft email with voice’ will be publicly available, or which devices will support the features. But it's an interesting insight into the time-saving features that could be available in the Gmail app soon.
