I have been using Gmail since it was by invite only and once in the club you only had 5 invites to bring in friends. So I have seen it go through the gamut of changes but stumbled upon this one yesterday and honestly it is kind of scary. Google’s artificial intelligence knows that I have referenced an attachment in my email body but there is none attached.
On the surface and for most of my emails this is a great service because many times I do forget to attach files in my haste to get my thoughts down and out to whomever I need to communicate with. But at the same time it does mean the machine is getting smarter. It means that Gmail knows what I am typing and the context of its meaning.
This is not new Google launched something very similar a few months ago with its contextual search where you start to type in a search term and Google will try to finish it with multiple suggestions listed below. To me that feels a bit different. A search feels more of a public act where as email feels more personal. It feels like I am being watched. I know that one of Google’s core philosophies is “You can make money without doing evil.” And I trust that they do. Not being a conspiracy theorist personally it is an interesting trend to watch.
If you see other things like this in the Google universe leave them in the comments.
