Skip to main content

Why does everyone get so worked up over Gmail’s Smart Reply feature?

Why does everyone get so worked up over Gmail’s Smart Reply feature?

/

So many hot takes about automated replies

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Kaitlyn Tiffany and I avoided talking about email as long as we could, but it’s the fourth season of our podcast, so it’s time. This week on Why’d You Push That Button?, we ask: why are people so worked up over Gmail’s Smart Reply feature? Smart replies are suggestions that Google makes through artificial intelligence when someone begins replying to an email. It’s similar to Smart Compose, which makes suggestions as you type. People have strong feelings about both of these features. (Please, do a search for hot takes. You’ll find many, including one that calls them “evil.”)

We interview Verge deputy editor Liz Lopatto about her Smart Reply feelings and how, perhaps, they aren’t so bad. Then we chat with writer Sarah Hagi about how she only uses smart replies in highly specific situations. (I won’t spoil the surprise, sorry!) Finally, we talk to Naomi S. Baron, a professor of linguistics emerita at American University and author of Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World. She walks us through the history of prewritten messages and how we all need to relax. Email and language will persevere, even if Google’s AI writes all of our boring responses.

Listen to the episode above, and you can subscribe to the show anywhere you typically get your podcasts. To make it easy for you, we’ve also got our usual places linked: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and our RSS feed

Why’d You Push That Button? /

A podcast about the hard, weird choices technology forces us to make.

Subscribe!