by Charles Miller

Someone asked my opinion about a new Artificial Intelligence-integration feature just announced by their email provider. The message read "You can now choose to bring your personal email into any AI client that speaks MCP" and "Once connected, you can ask your AI client:" 'What's on my calendar today?' or 'Write a response to that email.'" Well, there is a lot to unpack here, so I will start by pointing out that this email provider is not Gmail, Yahoo or other free service. It is a paid email service that is on the cutting edge of new technology.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that enables Artificial Intelligence to access data sources that were previously unavailable to AI due to format incompatibilities. In other words, MCP is a standardized software interface that can solve the challenge of connecting large language models (LLMs) used by AI to vast amounts of data AI was previously unable to process or make use of.

What this email provider was offering to make available to their customer was the option to give AI access to their emails, calendar entries, and contacts. The AI could then be able to act as a digital assistant. For example, you could ask that AI the question "What do I have on my calendar tomorrow?" The AI might be able to give you an answer in surprising detail.

For example, you could have previously created a one-word entry "Denver" on your appointment calendar for 1pm tomorrow; one word. Hopefully, the one-word calendar entry should be enough to help you remember the details. AI, on the other hand, after reading all your emails, your contacts, possibly your text messages and listening to your phone calls, might have figured out what you really meant by that one word "Denver."

AI could then answer your question "You have scheduled a 1pm lunch at Denver's Los Olivos Italian restaurant in Colonia San Antonio with John Jones and Jane Doe to discuss which new model smart TV to purchase and the work that will be required to mount it on the wall in the kitchen. You had also planned to talk about a landscaping project."

All that from your one-word calendar entry "Denver," because your AI personal assistant had read all your emails figured all of that out. This is going to be a useful feature for those who have trouble remembering where they put their car keys.

This is now possible because email is still the world's largest communication platform. Among all the Internet's sources of data, email is one that is mostly standardized in its structure but is not controlled by any one organization. It is also true that most every email server is also set up to provide contacts and calendars. Some email providers, such as the paid service my friend is using, are now adding additional software that sits alongside their existing mail infrastructure. The new software, the MCP server, acts as an intermediary between AI clients and the existing email, contacts, and calendar systems.

Having email, contacts, and calendar together in one place is already convenient. The possibility of having an AI assistant quickly and efficiently find the information you need in your personal files will doubtlessly be very useful to many. Who among us has not had the experience of remembering part of some email message, but not the name of who sent it, and maybe it was this year or last year. Searching thousands of emails to find the right one can be time-consuming. AI could do it instantly.

Making this happen though requires delving into the murky and mysterious depths of the so-called "dark web," so come back next week and I will explain what that means.

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Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

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