To turn off Gemini-powered AI summaries in Gmail without immediately disabling Gmail’s ordinary smart features, change the Google Workspace smart features setting.
On a computer:
- Open Gmail.
- Click Settings.
- Select See all settings.
- Stay on the General tab.
- Scroll to Google Workspace smart features.
- Click Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
- Turn off Smart features in Google Workspace.
- Save the change if prompted.
Google’s AI Overview conversation summary documentation says summaries require both Gmail smart features and Workspace smart features. Turning off the Workspace control also affects other Gemini-powered experiences, so this is not a switch for only one type of email summary.
Turn Off Gmail AI Summaries on Android
In the Gmail app:
- Open Gmail.
- Tap the menu button.
- Tap Settings.
- Select the Google account where the AI summaries appear.
- Find Google Workspace smart features or the related smart-feature controls.
- Turn off Smart features in Google Workspace.
When several Google accounts are added to Gmail, make sure you change the account that is actually showing the summaries.
Google can change the exact wording and location of these controls as Gmail is updated. If the option is missing, update the Gmail app and check again.
Turn Off Gmail AI Summaries on iPhone or iPad
On iOS, the smart-feature controls may appear under Gmail’s privacy settings.
- Open the Gmail app.
- Tap the menu button.
- Open Settings.
- Look under Data privacy or the available smart-feature settings.
- Open Google Workspace smart features.
- Turn off Smart features in Google Workspace.
- Tap Done if shown.
Close and reopen Gmail after changing the setting.
If the shortened text appears in your iPhone’s notification list rather than inside an email thread, check whether Apple Intelligence is producing it. Use the separate controls to turn off Apple Intelligence notification summaries; Gmail’s Workspace setting does not control that iOS feature.
If you use several accounts, verify that you changed the setting for the correct Google account.
Do Not Turn Off the Wrong Smart-Feature Setting
Gmail has similarly named controls, which is where most of the confusion comes from.
Smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet
This setting controls Gmail-specific personalization. Depending on Google’s current implementation, it can affect features such as:
- Smart Compose;
- Smart Reply;
- inbox categorization;
- package, travel, event, and other summary cards.
Google’s current help page for summary cards specifically says that turning off Smart features for Gmail, Chat, and Meet hides those cards.
Smart features in Google Workspace
This broader Workspace control governs AI-powered and personalized experiences that use Workspace content across supported Google apps.
Google specifically instructs users to turn this setting off to disable AI Overview in Gmail search, and warns that doing so also disables other AI-powered Workspace features such as the Gemini side panel in Gmail.
When your goal is to remove Gemini-powered AI summaries while retaining as many traditional Gmail features as possible, this is the more targeted setting to change first.
AI Summaries and Gmail Summary Cards Are Not the Same Thing
Gmail now has several features that can look like a “summary.”
A Gemini-generated overview interprets email content and produces an AI response or summary.
A traditional summary card extracts structured information from messages, such as:
- package tracking;
- travel details;
- events;
- bills;
- promotions.
Google documents Gmail summary cards separately and says they can be hidden by turning off Smart features for Gmail, Chat, and Meet.
So if you disable Smart features in Google Workspace but still see a package, travel, event, or bill card, that does not necessarily mean the AI setting failed. You may be looking at a different Gmail feature.
What Else Changes When You Turn Off Workspace Smart Features?
This is the tradeoff worth understanding before you change the setting.
Google says disabling smart features in Google Workspace can turn off other AI-powered Workspace functionality, including the Gemini side panel and AI Overview in Gmail search.
The exact features available to you depend on your account, subscription, administrator, region, and Google’s current rollout.
Turning off the setting does not delete your emails or Google Account. It changes access to the smart experiences governed by that control.
This setting also does not remove generated answers from ordinary Google Search. For those, see how to remove AI Overview from Google Search on Android, which explains the Web filter and its limitations.
There is currently no simple Gmail switch labelled Turn off AI email summaries only that leaves every other Workspace AI feature untouched.
AI Summaries Still Appear After You Turn Them Off
First confirm that you changed the correct account.
Gmail can hold several personal, school, and work accounts, and settings may differ between them.
Then:
- Close and reopen Gmail.
- Reload the browser tab on a computer.
- Update the Gmail mobile app.
- Check the Workspace smart-feature setting again.
- Sign out and back in only if the setting appears correct but the interface has not refreshed.
Also identify what you are still seeing. A package or travel summary card is controlled differently from a Gemini AI Overview.
For a work or school account, an administrator may control which Workspace features are available. In that situation, some settings may be unavailable to the individual user.
Can You Keep Smart Compose and Inbox Categories?
Potentially, yes.
Do not automatically disable Smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet when your target is Gemini-powered Workspace AI.
Leave that Gmail-specific control enabled and turn off Smart features in Google Workspace first.
This separation is useful because Google’s documentation treats Gmail smart features and broader Workspace smart features as distinct controls.
If categories or Smart Compose disappear after your changes, return to Gmail settings and check whether the Gmail, Chat, and Meet smart-feature setting was also turned off.
What if You Only Want to Hide One Summary?
When Gmail offers a collapse, minimize, or hide control on a particular AI card, you can use it to get the summary out of the way without changing your account-wide smart-feature settings.
That is useful when you still want Gemini elsewhere in Gmail.
Hiding one card is not the same as disabling AI summaries. Gmail can generate another AI experience later while Workspace smart features remain enabled.
The key distinction is therefore simple: turn off Smart features in Google Workspace for Gemini-powered Gmail AI experiences; turn off Smart features for Gmail, Chat, and Meet when you also want to remove traditional Gmail smart features such as summary cards. Keeping those two controls separate prevents you from disabling more of Gmail than you intended.
