Google Gemini’s ‘Personal Intelligence’ Extracts From Your Search And YouTube History
It seems obvious at this point that the next big frontier of artificial intelligence facing consumers is personalization. OpenAI made this a priority for 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 tap into called “Personal Intelligence,” which goes beyond past conversations and digs into your online history.
Like ChatGPT, Gemini can log out of your previous conversations. But with Personal Intelligence, it can also pull from anything you’ve done across the Google ecosystem—though you can selectively opt out of certain services and delete history as needed.
According to Google, Gemini has access to your Gmail, Google Calendar, and content in your Google Drive, as well as anything you’ve saved in Google Photos. In addition to your saved items, it can also check your watched items. That included YouTube watch history, Google search history, and anything you looked at through shopping, news, maps, Google flights, and hotels. With all that information, Google says Gemini can “take complex sources into account” to “provide specially tailored responses.”
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 oblivious to how scary it sounds:
Ever since I connected my apps with Personal Intelligence, my daily life has become easier. For example, we needed new tires for our 2019 Honda minivan two weeks ago. Standing in line at the store, I realized I didn’t know the tire size. I asked Gemini. These days any chatbot can get these wheel features, but Gemini goes further. It suggested different options: one for everyday driving and one for all weather conditions, referring to our family trip to Oklahoma found on Google Photos. It then neatly pulls the measurements and prices for each. As I got to the counter, I needed our number plate. Instead of looking for it or losing my place in line back to the parking lot, I asked Gemini. It extracted a seven-digit number from a photo in Photos and also helped me identify a particular van clip by searching Gmail. Just like that, we were set.
Not to dig into the details of this example, but it’s not immediately clear to me that making an uninformed decision (we don’t have to pretend to learn anything about getting AI-generated answers) based on a chatbot’s recommendation is a better outcome here than talking to someone at the front desk who knows about cars and tires. We all know we can just ask people things, right? We don’t have to appear to know everything to everyone all the time.
Still, Google at least knows that this whole process can be a little confusing for people, as it promises better recommendations, search results, and conversations. Personal Intelligence can be toggled on and off, and users can choose which sources it pulls from. Gemini will also “attempt” to reference or explain the information it has used in linked sources so that the user can verify it.
The company is also preparing its beta testers for some bumps in the road. In a blog post, it warned that users may experience inaccurate responses or “over-personalization,” where Gemini links to unrelated information. It also said that Gemini may “fight time or subtle things,” such as looking at a picture of someone with their ex 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 be available in more countries and reach the free version of Gemini in the future, and that it will be available in AI Mode in Search “soon.”
