Google rolls out ‘Personal Intelligence’: Can pull info from your Gmail and photos - Here’s how it works

Google has started testing a new artificial intelligence feature called Personal Intelligence, which allows its Gemini chatbot to pull information from apps like Gmail and Google Photos to give more personalised answers. They announced the update in a blog post on Wednesday, as it continues to strengthen Gemini’s reasoning abilities.

According to Google, the feature helps Gemini understand context across a user’s data instead of relying on single prompts. This means the chatbot can connect details from emails, photos and other Google apps to respond more accurately to questions.

Google’s Personal Intelligence

Google said Personal Intelligence allows Gemini to “reason across your data” to surface useful insights. For example, Gemini can connect an email conversation to a video you watched earlier or find specific moments stored in your photo library without being told where to search.

Josh Woodward, Vice President of Google Labs and the Gemini app, said the chatbot can now understand context more naturally. According to him, Gemini does not need users to manually point it to Gmail or Photos to retrieve information.

This feature builds on Gemini’s earlier ability to access Google apps but takes it further by allowing deeper reasoning across different sources at the same time.

Who can use the feature and where it is available

Google said Personal Intelligence is currently available to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the United States. The feature is limited to personal accounts and is turned off by default, meaning users must enable it manually.

The company also said the feature will be added to Google Search’s AI Mode in the future. For now, it remains part of the Gemini app as a beta release.

Privacy, limits and known issues

They said that it does not train its AI models directly on users’ Gmail inboxes or Google Photos libraries. It only uses limited information such as user prompts and Gemini’s responses to improve how the feature works over time.

Woodward also warned that Gemini may struggle with timing and nuance, especially in personal situations such as relationship changes or shifting interests. For sensitive topics like health, They said Gemini avoids making assumptions and will only discuss such information if users ask directly.

They also acknowledged that while the tool aims to be helpful, it is not yet perfect and should not be treated as error-free.

Why Google is pushing personalised AI

The launch of Personal Intelligence comes as Google faces strong competition from companies like OpenAI in the generative AI space. By making Gemini more personalised and context-aware, Google is trying to keep users within its ecosystem of apps and services.

According to Google, the goal is to make AI assistants more useful in everyday life by helping users find information faster, without searching through emails or photos manually.