This summer, Gmail's billion-plus users received a new chill-but-efficient way to answer emails: Smart Reply.
Smart Reply is Gmail's suggested response feature. At the bottom of received emails, Gmail serves three short phrases that its AI has determined are appropriate and relevant responses. Popular responses are phrases like "Awesome," or "Sounds good, let me know."
SEE ALSO:Google's big Gmail update makes your inbox smarter and more secureThe feature was initially available just in the Inbox app, but rolled out in the new version of Gmail to all users in July.
As the Wall Street Journalreported Thursday, the responses sometimes sound anachronistic, curt, or out of character for the writers. Personally, I can't decide whether Google frequently suggesting phrases that I myself was about to write is helpful or irksome. I have also wondered whether saving a few seconds of not having to type "ok, sounds good" is worth letting a robot mediate my interactions with other humans. Or if the impulse to hit a button instead of form a thought could in some way stymie my own expression, even in rote communications.
Despite user misgivings, smart reply is catching on. The Journalreports that smart replies constitute 10 percent of all messages sent over Gmail.
Smart reply first rolled out in the soon-to-be-defunct Inbox app in 2015. As of May 2017, twelve percent of all messages sent on Inbox were smart replies. But that was just in an offshoot app; 10 percent of all emails on the billion user-strong Gmail is much more significant. We've reached out to Google to ask how much of an increase the 10 percent figure constitutes, and will update this when and if we hear back.
But even with a conservative estimate, 10 percent of all Gmails is huge. Gmail users comprise over a quarter of all email users, and we the humans of earth send 269 billion emails every day. That means that smart replies account for at least 6.7 billion emails flying through the tubes on a daily basis. Through smart reply, Google has guided millions of us on humanity's path to embrace the robots.
TopicsArtificial IntelligenceGoogle
(责任编辑：焦點)
The U.S. will no longer have the final say on internet domain names
Sour Patch Kids cereal is coming to sour (and then sweeten) your morningsPosting your kid's photo to Facebook? Maybe think twice.This video of Victoria Beckham dancing to the Spice Girls is all you want it to be
Darth Vader is back. Why do we still care?Man stumbles upon his phone background in real life
Life imitates tech. Or, perhaps it's the other way around.Reddit user xbshooterwas traveling near Sa
...[详细]Jimmy Fallon partners with Amazon to tell jokes with Alexa on Echo
Want the voice of one of the most annoying men in America to tell you even more annoying jokes? Now
...[详细]'Sucker Punch,' Zack Snyder's hated 2011 movie, is actually good
Welcome to No Shame November!This week we're diving into the pop culture we love that society tells
...[详细]Here's why you should make your bed every morning
This is 。You Won't Regret It。,a new weekly column featuring recommendations, tips, and unsolicited ad
...[详细]There's a big piece of fake chicken stuck to this phone case
If the perfect smartphone case signals a bit about who its owner is, then this silicon fried chicken
...[详细]Gucci and Saint Laurent are working with Apple on in
The international luxury group that owns brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga --
...[详细]Reporter stays impressively calm in the face of mysterious animal on live TV
Live news: it's full of surprises. Including ... mysterious animals?Morgan Saxton, a broadcast journ
...[详细]Ted Cruz's latest dig at Beto O'Rourke might be his vilest yet
Ted Cruz's social media team has reached a dark new low.。Right before Senate hopeful Beta O'Rourke's
...[详细]Olympics official on Rio's green diving pool: 'Chemistry is not an exact science'
The diving pool for the Summer Olympics mysteriously turned green this week in Rio de Janeiro, then
...[详细]Everything you need to know to join the March For Black Women
If you don't have any plans for this weekend, now you do.
。 The Black Women's Blueprint, an organizat
...[详细]Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump rope
Posting your kid's photo to Facebook? Maybe think twice.