On: CAPTCHAs don’t prove you’re human – they prove you...

[ChrisRR]

Anything you do on google is training their AI for free. Do you think they're offering you free email out of the kindness of their hearts?

[grishka → ChrisRR]

Don't they sell ads in the web UI like many other free email providers do?

[arp242 → grishka]

And they sell the business accounts; because so many people are used to gmail for their personal accounts, quite a few companies are paying for that.

[kwhitefoot → grishka]

I use gmail but I never see ads because I always use a non-Google mail client. (Thunderbird on Windows and Linux), SimpleEmail on Android.

[viraptor → kwhitefoot]

You're an edge case and a rounding error. Enough people use the web UI and the Gmail app that they likely don't care about other users.