Gmail, the world’s most popular email service has several generative AI-powered features. In addition to the ‘Help me write’ functionality that enables users to draft emails using generative AI-powered features, the tech giant also seems to be testing a way to draft emails using voice.
According to a recent blog post by TheSPAndroid, Gmail is testing a new built-in functionality that lets you write entire emails using voice. The tinkerer said he was able to activate the feature on Gmail by triggering a flag and whenever they started writing or replying to an email, a new button named ‘Draft email with voice’ automatically popped up on their screen with a big mic button.
Tapping on it will start the recording and users will be able to stop it by pressing the same button once they are done speaking. Once done, you will then need to tap the ‘Create’ button and Gmail will write the draft using AI. Users will then be able to edit the draft to their preferences before sending the email. This is helpful if you find yourself in a situation where you need to send or reply to an email but don’t want to type the entire message.
While it may sound similar to Google Keyboard’s existing speak-to-type functionality, the upcoming feature makes use of generative AI and is natively integrated with Gmail, meaning more users will be able to make use of it. The tinkerer also said that Google added strings related to the feature in October last year, but it is still unclear when the new functionality will be available to everyone.
