The shutdown of Notion Mail, a product from popular online workspace service Notion, has raised eyebrows, but it's not the shutdown itself that's grabbing attention – it's the fact that many users have delegated their email sorting duties to AI agents, and subsequently stopped bothering to open their inboxes.
Letting AI agents sort through all your email has long been considered a killer app for AI, but this convenience comes with serious risks. The privacy aspect is a major concern: do you really want AI agents poking through all your email messages, and what if they see something personal or spot an account number? There's also the risk of something going haywire, such as mis-filing a message or deleting your entire inbox.
While some AI providers offer guardrails for their mail-handling agents and integrations, others leave users to fend for themselves. This makes it a gamble to let AI agents loose on your inbox, and it's essential to weigh the risks against the potential benefits.
Despite the risks, there are tempting upsides to enlisting AI agents' help, such as getting a team of agents to sort through thousands of unread emails and plucking out the handful of "real" messages. This convenience could be a major relief for many users, and it's precisely this thought that has persuaded some to give AI agents a try.
One such user has experimented with a popular AI provider, Claude, to see what it can do with their email. By using the Cowork tab in the Claude desktop app, they've set up a morning Gmail automation that checks all messages from the past 24 hours, classifies each thread, labels and archives messages, and drafts replies in their own voice.
In just one day, the user has already seen results, with their inbox cut down to size and a smaller "unread" count. While they're aware of the risks, they're willing to roll the dice in the hopes of getting their inbox under control. As they continue to experiment with Claude, they'll be sure to keep their readers posted on their experience.
