Autocomplete fail: Gmail is suggesting the wrong email addresses

Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Better check twice before firing off that email today: You could be sending it to the wrong person, thanks to a Gmail bug that is suggesting email addresses you rarely communicate with, instead of the people you correspond with most often.

The bug has been widely spotted by media outlets, venture capitalists, and normal Gmail users. Instead of sending your email to your coworkers or family, pressing send without double-checking could result in your email being delivered to someone you haven’t talked to in years. Although I am lucky enough not to have misfired one of my messages today, others haven’t been so fortunate:

The problem seems to be widespread — just this morning, Gigaom’s tips email address (news@gigaom.com, send us stories) was inexplicably CC’d on a email thread on which editors of another site were discussing the most embarrassing moments from last night’s Oscars.

Google has provided the following statement:

“We’re aware of an issue with Gmail and auto-complete and currently investigating. Apologies for any inconvenience.”

Until it gets fixed, you might want to consider turning on the undo send feature in Gmail labs.

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Tuesday, March 10, 2015
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