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ZDNET's key takeaways
Trust isn't the issue; Gemini in Gmail just lacks usefulness.
AI Overviews often omit context that power users actually need.
Smarter message flow control remains Gmail's biggest gap.
Everyone uses email differently. Our experiences relate directly to our relationships, the kind of work we do, the mail flow we have, and what we want to accomplish. I'm saying this so you know that while Gemini in Gmail isn't right for me, at least not yet, it might be just fine for you.
I also want to talk about Gmail and security. For years, I ran my own email servers. In fact, way back in the day, when cc:Mail was a thing, an email "server" was really a cluster of machines. I had a full cluster on a rack in my office. Eventually, I moved off physical hardware to the cloud. I've been happily letting Google worry about server management for quite some time.
I long ago accepted the fact that Google would, technically, have access to all my email. It's certainly possible the company might mine that data for some nefarious purpose. It's also clear that Google's security practices are far better than anything I'd ever be able to set up on my own servers.
While there's always some concern over the possibility of a breach, I have no problem using Google's infrastructure to manage my email. I protect my account with multifactor authentication and passkeys. I am fairly sure Google itself won't abuse its privileged access.
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