Gmail has new AI feature to help you write your emails

Writing emails seems pretty routine. Most of us have been doing it for years. Yet, sometimes we all find ourselves at a loss for words or struggle to craft the perfect message. After all, not all emails are created equal. Many of the messages we write are casual. Sometimes, though, we may need something more formal to connect with a business partner or customer.

When you wish you had a little something extra to make your emails stand out, Gmail has a solution: a new AI-supported feature called “Help me write.”

Google launched the help me write feature in May. It’s meant to draft full emails for a user. This differs from the autocorrect feature most email users and texters are familiar with, which can make recommendations and corrections for proper grammar, style and spelling.

Once you sign up for the help me write feature at Google Labs and launch Gmail, you will see a highlighted pen icon. When you click on the icon, you can enter the type of email you want created.

Let’s say you are in the job market and want to create a cover letter for a new job. For example, you can type “write a cover letter for a job as a freelance writer.” Click enter and Gmail’s AI interface will draft an entire message, as in the example below.

Read through the email draft and see if it’s accurate and fits your style. If it doesn’t, look at the email page’s bottom. You can select “recreate” to draft an entirely new message. Or, you can refine the written message in four different ways: formalize, elaborate, shorten or “I’m Feeling Lucky,” which is a random style generator. Warning: check that rewrite carefully. When I ran the cover letter through that revision, I got an email written in pirate-talk and then a haiku!

Most artificial intelligence applications should be used to improve your work, not replace it. Help me write is no exception to this rule. The feature is a great way to get inspiration or find some key ideas to get your thoughts organized.

Download the Google Labs option for free at this link, and help me write will automatically upload to your Gmail and Google Docs accounts. Then, break that writer’s block for good.