Google just launched a test feature that could change what it means to have an AI assistant.
"Personal Intelligence" allows Gemini to securely access your private data across Google's entire ecosystem, including Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, Search history, and more, to deliver responses tailored to your life. Currently rolling out to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S., it represents Google's boldest move yet toward building an AI that truly knows you.
To understand what this means for the future of AI assistants, I turned to SmarterX and Marketing AI Institute founder and CEO Paul Roetzer on Episode 191 of The Artificial Intelligence Show. He's been testing it and is optimistic about its potential.
How “Personal Intelligence” Works
The idea is simple: Connect your Google apps to Gemini, and it will access your personal data across them to answer your questions. Need to remember your license plate number? It can pull it from a photo. Looking for a new book to read? It can analyze your interests and YouTube viewing to make recommendations.
Google emphasizes the feature is turned off by default. To activate it, users must manually connect the desired apps. The company has implemented guardrails to prevent the AI from acting proactively on sensitive topics such as personal health.
While the system references your private content to answer specific requests, it doesn't use raw data from your inbox or photo library to train the underlying models, according to Google.
For Roetzer, the decision to turn on Personal Intelligence and give it access to his information was easy.
"My theory is: Google's got it all already," he says. "I already trust them with Gmail and calendar and all these other things."
The setup process walks users through connecting specific apps, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Photos, YouTube, and Search services, with clear disclosures about what data will be shared.
Once connected, Gemini introduces itself with a personalized greeting that reveals just how much it has already learned.
"It says, 'Hello, it's great to officially meet you. I'm ready for this new chapter,'" Roetzer recounts. "Now that I'm connected to Personal Intelligence, having this context allows me to be a much more effective partner in your work and life."
The AI then presented three themes that it said highlighted what made his perspective "unique":
- The "human-centric AI visionary”, referencing his work in AI and a book he's been thinking about writing
- The "dedicated coach persona,” noting that he coaches his kids and researches K-pop groups for his daughter
- The "modern renaissance hobbyist,” mentioning Lego builds and golf
Some of the details were off. The system attributed an interest in botanical and Mario LEGO sets to Roetzer, when they were actually for his wife and daughter. But when Roetzer corrected it, Gemini adapted immediately and asked follow-up questions to refine its understanding.
He decided to lean into the process. "I said, ‘Why don't you just interview me so you can learn what you need to know. When I have time, I'll answer different questions," he told the AI. "That's a fantastic idea!” the AI responded. “Slowburn interview is a perfect way for me to fill in the gaps. We can call this the Context Project.'"
But not every integration felt comfortable. The photo connection, in particular, gave him pause, because Gemini can pull a license plate number from a picture in your library.
"The photos one was weird to me," he admits.
A Pathway to a Truly Personal AI Assistant
The concept of a deeply personalized AI assistant, one that knows your preferences, your history, your life, has long been a kind of holy grail in the industry. Google may now have the clearest path to getting there, simply because it already has so much of your data.
Emails contain your travel plans, your purchases, your professional communications. Your photos capture your family, your home, your car. Your YouTube history reveals your interests, your curiosities, your entertainment preferences. Your search history shows what questions you've been asking.
When all of that becomes accessible to an AI that can reason across it, the potential is huge. Roetzer can already envision using it as a personal financial advisor, a business planning partner, or simply a tool that understands enough context to give genuinely useful answers.
"I'm optimistic about this," says Roetzer. "I'm actually kind of excited about the Personal Intelligence thing."
My own early experiments were similarly optimistic. Testing the feature with YouTube history, for instance, yielded surprisingly useful podcast recommendations, surfacing shows that weren't already on my radar but aligned well with my existing interests.
Coming Soon: Personal Intelligence in Google Search
Perhaps the most significant detail in Google's announcement is a single sentence buried near the end: "It's also coming to AI Mode in Search soon."
That means the same personalization capabilities currently rolling out in Gemini will eventually be integrated directly into Google Search's AI Mode. Your search results and AI-generated answers could soon be informed not just by the query you typed, but by everything Google knows about you.
Personal Intelligence will remain in beta, limited to premium personal accounts on web and mobile for now. Eventually, Google plans to expand access to its free tier, though no timeline is specified. The feature is not yet available for Workspace business, enterprise, or education users.
Why This Matters
Google's Personal Intelligence represents a significant shift in how AI assistants might evolve. The trade-off, of course, is privacy. Even with guardrails and user controls, you're granting an AI system access to some of the most intimate details of your life.
Google is betting that the benefits will outweigh the discomfort, though, and that users who already trust the company with their data will extend that trust to Personal Intelligence.
Whether this becomes the model for personal AI assistants broadly, or remains a Google advantage is to be determined. But one thing is clear: the race to build an AI that truly knows you is accelerating. And Google appears to be in the forefront.
Mike Kaput
Mike Kaput is the Chief Content Officer at SmarterX and a leading voice on the application of AI in business. He is the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence and co-host of The Artificial Intelligence Show podcast.