Google announced Wednesday that it is launching a new beta feature for its Gemini app that connects to the entire Google ecosystem, including Gmail, Photos, Search, YouTube history, and more to allow its AI assistant to tailor its responses.
Gemini can already pull information from these apps, but now it can reason with the data to provide proactive results, such as connecting threads in emails to videos watched. According to Google, this means Gemini understands context without being told where to look.
The tech giant says the beta experience, called Personal Intelligence, is turned off by default and allows users to choose whether and when Google apps connect to Gemini. Of course, not everyone wants an AI to examine their photos or YouTube history. If you decide to connect the app, Google says Gemini will only use your personal intelligence if it thinks it’s helpful to do so.
“Personal intelligence has two key strengths: making inferences from complex sources, and getting specific details from things like emails and photos to answer questions,” Josh Woodward, vice president of Gemini apps, Google Labs, and AI Studio, said in a blog post. “We often combine text, photos, and videos to provide unique, customized answers.”
Woodward shared an example of when he was in line at a tire store and couldn’t remember the size of his car’s tires. While most AI chatbots can determine the size of a car’s tires, Woodward says Gemini can go further by providing personalized responses. In his case, Gemini suggested all-weather tires after identifying photos from his family road trip in Google Photos. Woodward also said he forgot his license plate number, but Gemini was able to pull the number from a photo of him.
“I also get great tips on books, shows, clothes, and travel,” Woodward wrote. “This week did something special for me in planning my upcoming spring break. It helped me avoid tourist traps by analyzing my family’s interests and past trips through Gmail and Photos. Instead, it suggested an overnight train trip and a specific board game to play along the way.”
Google says it has guardrails around sensitive topics to prevent Gemini from making up-front assumptions about sensitive data such as health. However, the tech giant also says that Gemini will discuss this data with you if you request.
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Additionally, Gemini doesn’t train directly in your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. Instead, you train based on Gemini’s specific prompts and the model’s responses. In the example above, the road trip photos, photo license plate photos, and Gmail emails are not directly used to train the model. Google says these are only referenced to generate a response.
Personal Intelligence is rolling out to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the US. Google plans to expand this feature to more countries and Gemini’s free tier.
Google provided a list of example prompts to try, such as “Help me plan a weekend in (city, i.e. New York) based on what I want to do,” “Recommend some documentaries based on what I’m interested in,” or “Based on my Gmail delivery and grocery receipts, search history, and YouTube watch history, recommend five YouTube channels that fit my cooking style and meal prep vibe.”
