The Artificial intelligence tool from #Google that can reply to your email automatically

Google is putting a different twist on the concept of 'automated reply' with a new tool that aims to write artificially intelligent responses to your email.

The technology is part of an update to Google's Inbox app for managing and organizing email. 

It gives users a choice of three responses to choose from.

'Smart Reply suggests up to three responses based on the emails you get,' Google said.

'For those emails that only need a quick response, it can take care of the thinking and save precious time spent typing. 

'And for those emails that require a bit more thought, it gives you a jump start so you can respond right away.'

The new feature is the latest example of Google's effort to teach machines how to take over some of the tasks typically handled by humans.

Dubbed Smart Reply, the system learns to generate appropriate replies by analyzing of email conversations from across Google's Gmail service.

The responses of uses are fed into a neural network that works in a similar way to the human brain in order to 'learn' a particular task.

'The network will tailor both the tone and content of the responses to the email you're reading,' says Google product management director Alex Gawley told Wired.  

Google has several other AI projects.

The most conspicuous example so far has been Google's 6-year-old project developing cars that can drive without a human steering the wheel. 

Google also has been using an artificial intelligence program called 'RankBrain' to help determine the pecking order in its influential Internet search results.

In this instance, Google says it has created a program that identifies which incoming emails merit quick responses and then figures out the appropriate wording. Up to three choices will be offered as a reply before it's sent. 

The responses that people select are supposed to help Google's computers learn which ones work best.

'Inbox uses machine learning to recognize emails that need responses and to generate the natural language responses on the fly.  

'And much like how Inbox gets better when you report spam, the responses you choose (or don't choose!) help improve future suggestions. For example, when Smart Reply was tested at Google, a common suggestion in the workplace was "I love you."

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