Why should you disable automatic summarization with Gemini in Gmail?

There's that email you meant to skim through later, Gemini probably did it for you. Google's AI is now placing summary cards right at the top of your inbox. No clicking, no writing prompts, just unsolicited AI-generated CliffsNotes for your email, built right into Gmail .

Summary AI is taking the lead in Gmail

Google regularly adds new Gemini features to Gmail. They previously added a Q&A feature that let you ask questions in your inbox. Now, Gemini will automatically summarize your emails in the Gmail app on iPhone and Android devices. It will automatically place the summary at the top of long emails without you having to do anything.

If this sounds familiar, it's because Gemini is already in Gmail's side panel, offering optional tools like draft suggestions, quick replies, and manual email summaries. But now, instead of waiting to be summoned, summary cards will appear automatically when Gmail decides an email is long enough to warrant summarizing.

In theory, this could be a significant time-saver. You'll still see a manual "Summarize this email" option if you want to manually enable it on shorter emails. Plus, the side panel features remain the same. But this implementation transforms Gemini from an optional assistant to an active participant in your conversations.

Whether that's a welcome upgrade or an invasion of privacy depends on how accepting you are of AI, which assumes your needs before it acts. And this isn't the first time we've seen a summary become the default action on our phones.

Apple tried something similar by summarizing app push notifications using its own AI. However, it ended up making consistent mistakes, especially when summarizing news headlines. This eventually led the company to suspend the feature for news apps. This is one of the reasons why many people still don't trust Apple Intelligence .

Google isn't immune either. AI Overviews in Search have been notoriously bad — from misleading advice to nonsense.

While Gemini's email summary may not suggest adding glue to your pizza, the reliability of these automated snippets is still a significant concern. Context matters, and even a slightly inaccurate summary can misrepresent the tone or meaning — especially in sensitive or professional conversations.

You can turn off the Auto Summary feature!

Currently, this feature is limited to emails written in English. Depending on where you live, it may be on or off by default. It is disabled in the EU, UK, Switzerland, and Japan due to strict data privacy laws. However, elsewhere, you will need to manually disable it.

If you're in a Google Workspace environment, your administrator can disable this feature entirely. At this time, it doesn't appear that you can disable individual features. Instead, you'll need to opt out of all Gmail personalization features by turning off Smart Features in Gmail. For more specific instructions on how to disable Smart Features, you can check out Google's support page .

You should turn this off, just to protect your email privacy. Giving AI more access to what could become personal email is not okay with many people.

For Google, this is just another step in embedding AI into the products you use every day. For busy users who are drowning in email, this could be a blessing. For privacy advocates and those hurt by past AI blunders, this is another reason to be cautious and perhaps even argue about removing Google from your life by trying Proton Mail or other similar services.

Either way, Google says the feature is rolling out to Gmail, so it's just a matter of time until it shows up in your inbox.

Lesley Montoya

Update 31 May 2025