Yahoo Mail Adds Shopping Feature and Other New AI Tools

Yahoo Mail’s artificial intelligence (AI) beta experience now includes a shopping feature and other new AI tools.

These AI enhancements are part of Yahoo’s ongoing efforts to save users time and money, the company said in a Monday (Aug. 28) press release.

The Shopping Saver tool is a standout feature among Yahoo Mail’s AI enhancements. It uncovers forgotten gift cards, discount codes and store credits in users’ inboxes, and generates suggested messages to vendors to help apply those savings after a purchase has been made, according to the release. With nearly half of U.S. adults having at least one unused gift card or store credit, Yahoo Mail users can now easily take advantage of these overlooked savings.

According to Josh Jacobson, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Mail, the introduction of these tools is a significant step toward creating an assistive inbox. He said in the release that U.S. consumers have $23 billion in unused gift cards and credits, and Yahoo Mail’s new shopping feature aims to help users reclaim a portion of that money.

The Shopping Saver feature, along with other AI enhancements, is currently available as part of Yahoo Mail’s AI beta experience, which was initially accessible to iOS users and has now expanded to web browsers, according to the release. This expansion is made possible through the utilization of Google Cloud’s AI technology, enabling Yahoo Mail to offer users a more intuitive search experience, improved writing assistance and message summaries.

Adaire Fox-Martin, president of Google Cloud Go-to-Market, said in the release that AI is reshaping consumer experiences and will result in improved shopping experiences, streamlined email searches and seamless communication for Yahoo users.

The addition of these enhancements comes about six weeks after it was reported that Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone said he hopes to take the company public and return it to its former glory. Lanzone added that Yahoo aims to one day be able to compete against Google and Microsoft’s Bing in search.

“I’m pretty optimistic about what we can do,” Lanzone told the Financial Times July 4. “And I think AI presents a new opportunity across every one of the products.”