Google announced Personal Intelligence on Wednesday, a beta feature that allows Gemini AI to access data from Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, and Search to provide personalized responses. The feature started rolling out yesterday to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S., with plans to expand to free users and AI Mode in Search later this year.
“Whether it’s connecting a thread in your emails to a video you watched or finding nuance in your photo library, Gemini now understands context without being told where to look,” Josh Woodward, VP of Google Labs and the Gemini app, wrote in the announcement.
Damilare Odedina
What Personal Intelligence actually does
The feature represents a shift from basic information retrieval to what Google calls “reasoning across complex sources.” Instead of telling Gemini where to find information, the AI analyzes your connected apps automatically to deliver what it considers relevant responses.
Woodward shared a real-world example: standing at a tire shop, he asked Gemini for tire specs for his 2019 Honda minivan. The AI suggested options for daily driving and all-weather conditions by referencing family road trip photos in Google Photos, then pulled his license plate number from another photo.
“Personal Intelligence has two core strengths: reasoning across complex sources and retrieving specific details from, say, an email or photo to answer your question,” Woodward wrote. The feature can suggest weekend plans based on your interests, recommend books from your reading habits, or plan trips using your travel history.
Announcing Personal Intelligence, a more personalized @GeminiApp designed just for you.
— Google AI (@GoogleAI) January 14, 2026
How it works:
— Customized: With your permission, it reasons across your @Gmail, @YouTube, @GooglePhotos, and Search apps to share hyper-relevant and context-aware responses
— Secure: If… pic.twitter.com/9Y8pfS46de
The privacy trade-off
Personal Intelligence is off by default and requires users to manually enable it. Google states it “doesn’t train directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library” but rather trains on “limited info, like specific prompts in Gemini and the model’s responses” after filtering personal data.
However, the timing has raised eyebrows. Just three days ago, Apple announced it will use Google’s Gemini models to power a revamped Siri expected later this year — but with Apple’s privacy protections intact and no ad targeting based on user data.
Personal Intelligence is available to U.S. users via opt-in but disabled by default in the EU, UK, and Japan where privacy regulations are stricter. Privacy advocates point to this as evidence of a two-tier system where convenience depends on geographic location and regulatory environment.
Google warns users may encounter “over-personalization” where the AI “makes connections between unrelated topics.” The company specifically notes Gemini may struggle with timing and nuance, particularly around relationship changes like divorces. For instance, seeing hundreds of golf course photos might lead Gemini to assume you love golf — when you’re really just there for your son.
How to enable Personal Intelligence
The feature is not available for Workspace business, enterprise, or education accounts. To turn it on:
- Open Gemini and tap Settings
- Tap Personal Intelligence
- Select Connected Apps (Gmail, Photos, YouTube, Search)
With over 3 billion Gmail users, Google controls personal context at a scale rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic cannot match. This feature isn’t just about making Gemini helpful — it’s about leveraging the one competitive advantage Google has that others can’t replicate.
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