Google has added ‘Personal Intelligence’, a beta upgrade to its Gemini AI that finally lets the assistant draw seamlessly from Gmail threads, forgotten Photos albums, YouTube rabbit holes, and Search history to craft responses that feel less like generic chatbot banter and more like a suspiciously attentive digital sidekick. The feature would be switched of by default.
This opt-in feature transforms Gemini from a polite query responder into a proactive context whisperer, quietly connecting the dots across your scattered digital life so it can suggest tire sizes for your minivan (complete with all-weather recommendations based on those family road-trip pics) without you ever spelling it out.
“Today, we’re answering a top user request: you can now personalize Gemini by connecting Google apps with a single tap. Launching as a beta in the U.S., this marks our next step toward making Gemini more personal, proactive and powerful. Personal Intelligence securely connects information from apps like Gmail and Google Photos to make Gemini uniquely helpful. If you turn it on, you control exactly which apps to link, and each one supercharges the experience. It connects Gmail, Photos, YouTube and Search in a single tap, and we’ve designed the setup to be simple and secure,” the company wrote in an official blog post.
Initially, Personal Intelligence is being rolled out as a beta feature and is off by default. Access is limited to users subscribed to Google’s higher-tier AI plans, like AI Pro and AI Ultra, with availability currently focused on the US market. Users must manually opt in and selectively authorize which Google apps Gemini is allowed to access. Importantly, permissions can be modified or revoked at any time, and the tech titan claimed that the data used for personalization is not fed back into training the AI models.
In terms of functionality, the feature allows Gemini to operate across multiple data types – including text, images, and activity history – rather than processing each Google service in isolation. For example, a user could ask Gemini to recall details from a previous vacation, prompting the assistant to pull context from related emails, stored photos, and past search activity to generate a more detailed response. Even beyond direct queries, Gemini can also surface proactive reminders, summarize relevant information ahead of meetings or upcoming trips, and recommend content that reflects a user’s recent interests and behaviour.
This approach gives Google a significant strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive AI landscape. Unlike standalone AI platforms, Google already operates a deeply integrated ecosystem that spans email, photo storage, search, video consumption, and productivity tools used by billions of people worldwide. The development also comes at a time when other major tech companies are pursuing similar ambitions. For example, last year social media giant Meta revealed plans to build what it described as ‘Personal Superintelligence‘, an effort aimed at delivering a highly personalized AI assistant customized to each individual user.
However, at the same time, Google’s latest move also raises serious concerns around privacy, transparency, and user trust. While the company has positioned Personal Intelligence as an opt-in feature rather than a default setting, the idea of an AI system proactively accessing personal emails, photos, and activity history has intensified scrutiny over how user data is handled. This becomes even more critical as Google is already facing multiple privacy-related lawsuits and regulatory challenges across different jurisdictions, including cases tied to alleged misuse of personal data, tracking practices, and insufficient user consent.