There are a lot of great new features in the new Gmail redesign, including a handful that make use of Google's machine learning algorithms.

Up until now, these algorithms have contributed to predictive replies for users checking their Gmail accounts on the go using a mobile app. That feature is now being rolled out to web users, along with a few others.

Some of the AI related features added to Gmail include:

  • Smart Reply: Predictive text to reply to emails based on your previous emails (for web users).
  • Smart Compose: Gmail will offer predictive writing suggestions as you write your email.
  • Nudges: Google will give you a reminder for emails you received a few days ago, but have yet to reply to.
  • High priority notifications: Google will flag only the messages it thinks matter the most.

These features depend on Google scanning your email to learn your patterns and what matters to you most. If you decide that these are features you don't want to use, you should be able to turn them off once they roll out to you.

How to Turn Off Nudges and Smart Compose

So far, it appears you can only turn off two of those features Nudges and Smart Compose.

To turn off the Nudges feature, go to Settings and under the General tab, scroll down and make sure the two settings for Nudges are not checked. Gmail will have this feature turned on by default.

To turn Smart Compose off go to Settings and on the General tab scroll down to look for that feature and select Writing Suggests Off.

 

Which New Gmail Features Can't Be Turned Off?

It doesn't appear possible to turn High Priority Notifications or Smart Reply off just yet.

And there certain things where you simply will have no choice. Last year Google announced it would no longer scan emails for advertising purposes, but would continue to do so to protect users from spam or phishing attempts.

And so with the redesign, Gmail's automated scans will contribute to Google's ability to prominently flag spam or phishing emails---and there's no opting out of that.

If you don't like the redesign at all, don't forget that you can always just switch back to the classic Gmail interface, at least for now.