It feels clear at this point that the next big frontier for consumer-facing artificial intelligence is personalization. OpenAI has made this central to ChatGPT by introducing memories that allow the chatbot to pull from past conversations, and now Google is taking it a step further. On Wednesday, it announced a new beta feature for its popular Gemini assistant that users can opt into called “Personal Intelligence,” which goes beyond past conversations and digs into your internet history.
Much like ChatGPT, Gemini can pull from your previous conversations. But with Personal Intelligence, it can also pull from just about anything you’ve done across the Google ecosystem—though you can selectively disconnect certain services and delete history as needed.
Per Google, Gemini is capable of accessing your Gmail, Google Calendar, and content in your Google Drive, as well as anything you’ve saved to Google Photos. More than just stuff you’ve saved, it can also parse through stuff you’ve looked at. That included YouTube watch history, Google Search history, and anything you’ve looked for via its Shopping, News, Maps, Google Flights, and Hotels services. With all that information, Google claims Gemini can perform “reasoning across complex sources” to “provide uniquely tailored answers.”
What does that look like in practice? Just check out this anecdote from Josh Woodward, Vice President of the Gemini app, who shared his experience with Personal Intelligence in a blog post, seemingly without realizing how creepy it sounds:
Since connecting my apps through Personal Intelligence, my daily life has gotten easier. For example, we needed new tires for our 2019 Honda minivan two weeks ago. Standing in line at the shop, I realized I didn’t know the tire size. I asked Gemini. These days any chatbot can find these tire specs, but Gemini went further. It suggested different options: one for daily driving and another for all-weather conditions, referencing our family road trips to Oklahoma found in Google Photos. It then neatly pulled ratings and prices for each. As I got to the counter, I needed our license plate. Instead of searching for it or losing my spot in line to walk back to the parking lot, I asked Gemini. It pulled the seven-digit number from a picture in Photos and also helped me identify the van’s specific trim by searching Gmail. Just like that, we were set.
Not to dig into the specifics of this example, but it’s not immediately clear to me that making an uninformed decision (we don’t have to pretend you’ve actually learned anything by getting some AI-generated answers) based on the recommendation of a chatbot is a better outcome here than talking to the person at the front desk who knows about cars and tires. We all know we can just ask people stuff, right? We don’t have to come across as knowledgeable about everything to everyone all the time.
Regardless, Google is at least aware that this whole process might weird people out a bit, even as it’s promising better recommendations, search results, and conversations. Personal Intelligence can be toggled on and off, and users can select what sources it pulls in. Gemini will also “try” to reference or explain the information it used from connected sources so the user can verify it.
The company is also prepping its beta testers for some bumps in the road along the way. In a blog post, it warned that users may encounter inaccurate responses or “over-personalization,” where Gemini connects unrelated information. It also said Gemini may “struggle with timing or nuance,” like looking at a photo of a person and their ex-partner and not realizing they’ve broken up.
If you’d like to be Google’s guinea pig, Personal Intelligence is rolling out to “eligible” Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the US. The company also said that Personal Intelligence will become available in more countries and make its way to Gemini’s free tier in the future, and will be available in AI Mode in Search “soon.”
