Otto AI: what it is and does

What Otto AI is

Otto AI is the assistant built into Otto Mail. One app holds the mail for a Gmail or Outlook account, and the calendar and tasks that go with it, and the assistant works across all of it. We make it and run it. Otto AI and Otto Mail are the same product, and so is plain Otto.

It doesn't give you a new email address. You connect the Google or Microsoft account you already have, and your mail stays where it is.

What Otto AI does

Ask in plain words and it'll prepare the work.

It drafts a reply from the thread, in your voice and not in template English. It reads what arrived overnight and tells you what actually needs you today. It proposes a meeting on your connected calendar, with the attendees and the time zone showing. If nobody replied by the day you named, it nudges you, and a snoozed thread comes back unread at the hour you chose. Research questions get answered with sources, without you leaving the message. Then there's the morning brief and your own routines (automations), which run on a schedule you set. They land in the app or by email, and push works too. On Plus and Pro they can also go to Telegram, Slack or Discord.

We'd start with the morning brief.

Review ordinary assistant actions

Sends and deletes come back as a confirmation card, and so do bulk changes. The card shows the sending account and the recipients, plus the wording, and for a bulk job it shows the scope it's about to touch. You can approve it, or change it first, or throw it away.

Separate opt-in rules can act within boundaries you set. An automatic reply has its own sender and cadence controls. A booking link accepts requests only within the availability policy you publish. Both can be disabled. Whether you see these newer controls depends on your plan and on whether they're available in your account yet.

That's also where Otto AI differs from a chatbot. A chat window writes a good paragraph about an email you pasted into it. Otto AI works on the real mailbox, so what it's allowed to do, and the review history behind it, matter.

Quick, and quiet about it

Gmail and Outlook push new mail to Otto, so a message appears in the list as it arrives and not when a timer next runs. Folder switches come off Otto's up-to-date inbox list instead of a fresh round trip, and every action you take on it responds as you press the key. The keyboard layer is there when you want it. J and K move, single keys archive or star or reply, and ⌘/ opens the cheat sheet.

Your mail stays with Google and Microsoft

The ordinary inbox index stores metadata, meaning the sender and the subject, plus dates and flags, and it doesn't store a full copy of every message. Content you select for a chat or a note, a shared draft or prepared work may be saved as well. What Otto stores explains the difference.

Where to get it, and what it costs

Otto AI runs in the browser and on iPhone through the App Store, with Android coming soon. Free connects one account with core mail, plus a calendar and tasks, with an AI allowance on top. Plus is $6.99 a month and Pro is $19.99, for when you want extra accounts and more capacity, with stronger models.

The longer guide to the category is AI email assistant. The comparison hub shows how Otto lands against the field, pricing has the tiers, about says who's behind it, and the docs cover the rest.