Google’s AI models have a secret ingredient that’s giving the company a leg up on competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. That ingredient is your data, and it’s only just scratched the surface in terms of how it can use your information to “personalize” Gemini’s responses.
Google first started letting users opt in to its “Gemini with personalization” feature earlier this year, which lets the AI model tap into your search history “to provide responses that are uniquely insightful and directly address your needs.” But now, Google is taking things a step further by unlocking access to even more of your information — all in the name of providing you with more personalized, AI-generated responses.
During Google I/O on Tuesday, Google introduced something called “personal context,” which will allow Gemini models to pull relevant information from across Google’s apps, as long as it has your permission. One way Google is doing this is through Gmail’s personalized smart replies — the AI-generated messages that you can use to quickly reply to emails.
To make these AI responses sound “authentically like you,” Gemini will pore over your previous emails and even your Google Drive files to craft a reply tailored to your conversation. The response will even incorporate your tone, the greeting you use the most, and even “favorite word choices,” according to Google.
As an example, Google says if you’re chatting with a friend about road trip advice, Gemini can search through your emails and files, allowing it to find hotel reservations and an itinerary you put together. It can then suggest a response that incorporates relevant information. That, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during the keynote, may even help you “be a better friend.”
It seems Google plans on bringing personal context outside Gemini, too, as its blog post announcing the feature says, “You can imagine how helpful personal context will be across Search, Gemini and more.” Google said in March that it will eventually let users connect their YouTube history and Photos library to Gemini, too.
The breadth of data that Google has access to could put Gemini far ahead of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which starts with a blank slate when it encounters a new user. Instead of having an idea of where someone might like to shop, their favorite foods, or how they typically compose their emails, ChatGPT will have to field several responses before it can start referring to its memories and old conversations. The same is true for other AI chatbots without Google’s vast swaths of data, such as Anthropic’s Claude.
If it’s given permission, Gemini can have access to all of this information — and more — right out the gate. That sets it up to be an even more helpful AI assistant that you don’t even need to have a previous interaction with for it to “know” you.
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