Inbox Swamped? Perplexity's New Email Assistant Works For Gmail And Outlook

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Email Assistant tin thief you review, organize, and draught emails.
• It's disposable to paid subscribers of Perplexity Max.
• AI companies are trading heavy to endeavor customers.

Perplexity is bringing its AI straight to white-collar workers' inboxes pinch an automated adjunct that tin reappraisal and shape emails, and respond to messages successful an approximation of their quality users' voices. 

What Email Assistant tin do

Email Assistant, released Monday, connects straight pinch Gmail aliases Outlook via a user's desktop aliases mobile email app to execute a wide scope of monotonous tasks, for illustration suggesting gathering times based connected almanac readiness and generating summaries of disparate but related connection threads. This mirrors a characteristic within Comet -- Perplexity's AI agent-powered web browser designed to compete pinch Chrome and different bequest browsers -- which tin summarize contented recovered connected a peculiar web page.

Also: I tried Perplexity's Comet AI browser, and I for illustration wherever it's going (but it's not location yet)

It tin besides auto-label messages by type, show you erstwhile your adjacent gathering is pinch a coworker by searching your inbox, and bid priorities. 

Email Assistant joins a increasing database of pricier AI tools, including ChatGPT Pro, aimed astatine professionals connected endeavor budgets. Its capabilities look akin to some of Gemini's successful Gmail, including Personalized Smart Replies, uncovering accusation via a natural-language search, and organizing priorities. Gemini tin besides thief users declutter their inboxes pinch a azygous bid to delete emails from a circumstantial sender, though Perplexity's adjunct doesn't database that arsenic a feature. Though Google has yet to merchandise a general email adjunct beyond Gemini, it did precocious release 1 for Google Meet (and if you'd alternatively skip Gemini successful Gmail altogether, here's how you tin move it off).

Of course, Gemini is only disposable for Gmail. Outlook, connected nan different hand, has its ain Copilot features, courtesy of Microsoft's balanced AI assistant, which characteristic galore of nan aforesaid capabilities, chiefly summarizing threads and drafting replies. 

Also: 7 Copilot tricks to supercharge your classical Outlook - moreover if they're not for me

Email Assistant is SOC 2- and GDPR-compliant and is not trained connected personification interactions, according to Perplexity.

Available exclusively done Perplexity's $200/month Max subscription tier, nan motorboat of nan caller Email Assistant is nan AI startup's latest effort to seizure a portion of nan workplace productivity marketplace -- a niche that's go a cardinal trading attraction passim nan AI industry. 

Selling AI to businesses

To many, generative AI is still mostly a solution successful hunt of a problem. Regardless, tech companies person progressively been turning their attraction towards enterprises successful nan hopes that their AI devices will go profoundly interwoven into nan workplace arsenic productivity essentials. 

Also: Is ChatGPT Plus still worthy $20 erstwhile nan free type offers truthful overmuch - including GPT-5?

Microsoft is now partnering pinch Anthropic to incorporated nan AI startup's exertion into workplace productivity platforms for illustration Excel and Word. OpenAI, meanwhile, is reportedly building a platform to compete pinch Google Workplace and Microsoft Office 365, arsenic it simultaneously distances itself from its long-standing business pinch Microsoft and restructures itself arsenic a Public Benefit Corporation.

Companies person besides been pushing their AI systems into devices that are already profoundly entrenched successful individuals' regular workflows, a benignant of trading sleight-of-hand executed successful nan hopes that nan usage of those caller devices will besides go habitual and indispensable. Last week, for example, Google made Gemini available successful Chrome through a dedicated widget astatine nan top-right area of a web page (the characteristic was antecedently disposable to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers).

Also: I sewage 4 years of merchandise improvement done successful 4 days for $200, and I'm still stunned

Similarly, Perplexity is betting that by weaving its caller Email Assistant straight into white-collar workers' inboxes, it tin go a go-to AI solution for enterprises while ratcheting up its title pinch Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and different competitors.

How to effort it 

If you're a Perplexity Max subscriber, you tin sojourn this page to link your Outlook aliases Gmail relationship to Perplexity's Email Assistant. Perplexity recommends starting pinch a elemental prompt, like, "What needs my attraction first?" successful bid to commencement exploring nan assistant's capabilities.