Expanding its existing beta experience, Yahoo Mail’s AI tools cover Shopping Saver, Search, Writing Assistant, and Message Summary, powered by Google Cloud’s AI technology.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — Yahoo Mail is now equipped with a series of AI tools, one of which is a shopping feature called Shopping Saver. The new and improved AI tools expand its existing AI beta experience, powered by Google Cloud’s AI technology.
The Shopping Saver feature displays long-forgotten gift cards, discount codes, and store credit in user inboxes and composes suggested messages for vendors to help apply those savings after purchase. With this feature, now users can cash out those gift cards in their inboxes.
According to a Bankrate survey, 47% of US adults have at least one unused gift card, gift voucher, or store credit. This fact has driven Yahoo Mail to develop AI tools to save users’ time and money by redefining their experience.
Senior Vice President & General Manager of Yahoo Mail Josh Jacobson conveyed, “We’ve introduced a full suite of tools on Yahoo Mail to help users save time and money, making strides toward an assistive inbox.”
Citing the Bankrate survey, Jacobson emphasized that US consumers have $23 billion in unused gift cards and credits in total. “We hope our new tools will help users gain a fraction of that back in their wallets,” he added.
Meanwhile, President of Google Cloud Go-to-Market Adaire Fox-Martin delivered, “We’re thrilled that Yahoo is deploying Google Cloud’s AI platform and tools to help transform Yahoo Mail with new services and features. AI is redefining consumer experiences, and for Yahoo users this means improved experiences shopping for deals, searching through emails, communicating more seamlessly, and more.”
Drafting replies through the user’s voice
Apart from Shopping Saver, Yahoo Mail upgraded several existing features, including Search which now can suggest common questions to help users find what they are looking for. Users can ask a question or simply select from a list of prompted queries relevant to their search terms, such as ‘How much did I spend on groceries last week?’. They can also add filters, for example from, to, date, to narrow search results.
The Writing Assistant feature is able to draft suggested replies through the user’s voice, identifying appropriate tones via context clues from existing email networks to best suit the conversation, for example, professional or casual. The upgraded feature includes a variety of desired tones, such as urging, thanking, or apologizing.
In addition, the Message Summary feature provides users with high-level summaries of messages, highlighting key information like dates, times, and action items. The tool then suggests tasks, calendar events, and follow-up topics.
The new AI tools for a beta experience are already accessible to US iOS users starting in early 2023. Currently, the company has expanded its beta access to desktop users in the US in preparation for a public release.
