Perplexity, the company behind the AI answer engine, has announced Email Assistant, a new feature that supports email work. It connects with Gmail and Outlook to draft replies in the user's writing style, organize the inbox, and even handle meeting scheduling. The feature is offered to users of Perplexity Max, the top-tier plan priced at 200 USD per month, and is positioned as a "personal assistant" that lightens the burden of routine email handling.

Toward an AI That "Processes" Email

Generative AI has spread mainly through chat-style uses centered on generating answers to questions. With Email Assistant, Perplexity takes that role a step further into an agent-type feature that takes on day-to-day work itself[1].

Email Assistant is a new feature from Perplexity AI, Inc. (headquartered in San Francisco, USA; Co-founder and CEO: Aravind Srinivas), the company that operates the Perplexity AI answer engine. It became available to Perplexity Max users starting September 23, 2025[1]. The feature connects directly to major email services such as Gmail and Outlook, with the AI taking charge of inbox management, replies, and scheduling[1].

Email handling is a task that consumes a great deal of time for many businesspeople. The effort of writing a reply from scratch, the work of identifying important messages among a flood of email, and coordinating schedules with the people involved all add up as small burdens. By leaving these tasks to AI, Email Assistant aims to free up time for the work users should actually focus on[2].

Three Core Functions

The capabilities of Email Assistant can be organized into three main areas.

The first is automatic drafting of replies. It learns the user's writing style and past exchanges to generate replies suited to the situation[1]. It can also adjust tone or summarize content as needed, so the user only has to review the generated text and then edit and send it. Perplexity explains that the heaviest burden in email handling is "getting started," and that this feature removes the friction at that entry point[2].

The second is inbox organization and prioritization. The AI automatically classifies email, distinguishing what is already done, what requires action, and what needs careful attention[2]. So that important messages are not missed, it clearly shows the tasks that need to be handled that day.

The third is automated meeting scheduling. Simply by adding "Email Assistant" to the CC (carbon copy) of an email, the AI takes over the back-and-forth of scheduling[1]. It reads available time slots to propose candidate times, and proceeds automatically through coordination with the participants up to issuing invitations[2]. The repeated exchanges that come with scheduling are described as one of the areas Email Assistant handles best.

Security and Conditions of Use

Because the feature handles work email, attention to security and privacy is also emphasized. Email Assistant complies with SOC2 and GDPR, the international security standards, and user data is never used for AI model training[1]. In addition, email exchanges handled by Email Assistant are designed to be deleted after 14 days[2]. Users can set for themselves the degree of authority over how autonomously the AI is allowed to act[2].

There are also some limitations on use. Email Assistant currently supports only one email address, and if both Google and Outlook are connected, the Google side takes priority[2].

The feature is offered to users of Perplexity Max, the top-tier plan priced at 200 USD (about 32,000 yen) per month, and provision to users of the corporate "Enterprise Max" plan is also planned[1].

※1 USD = 159 JPY (as of May 2026)

Perplexity also notes that Perplexity Max users are already making active use of Comet Assistant, which launched in July 2025, and that early data shows the number of questions and tasks processed per day rising three- to eighteen-fold, confirming gains in productivity[1]. Email Assistant is likewise expected to significantly boost work efficiency.

Outlook for the Future

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, positions Email Assistant as "the first in a series of agents to be released going forward," stating that these will be built into existing workflows and will support users in the same way as human knowledge workers[1].

According to Perplexity, use of the service continues to expand in Japan as well, gaining support particularly among businesspeople. The company plans to strengthen its corporate-oriented rollout and support productivity improvements in email work at domestic companies[1].

Summary

Email Assistant is a new feature that lets users hand routine work such as drafting replies, organizing email, and scheduling over to AI, and it is offered to Perplexity Max users. Privacy considerations are also built in, including a design that does not use data for training and the deletion of email after 14 days. As the use of AI broadens from chat-style tools to agent-type AI that executes work, its effectiveness will now be tested in the familiar domain of email.

Source:https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000015.000157647.html

Source:https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/a-personal-assistant-for-your-inbox