Gemini Becomes a Personal Assistant... Now Answers by Searching Your Emails and Photos

Google Unveils "Personal Intelligence"
Integration with Gmail and Google Photos
Personalized Answers Based on Emails and Photos
Seen as a Serious Challenge to AI Leader OpenAI

Google's artificial intelligence (AI) service "Gemini" has unveiled a new feature that allows it to provide answers not only by referencing information from the internet, but also by checking the contents of users' personal emails and photos. Following the decision to integrate a Gemini-based service into Apple devices, Google is now rolling out personalized services, leading some to believe that the company has gained the upper hand in the AI service market.

On January 14 (local time), Google announced "Personal Intelligence," a feature that allows Gemini to search for information by linking with its own apps, such as Gmail and Google Photos.

Manish Gupta, Senior Director of DeepMind at Google, spoke on the topic "Google AI Opening New Possibilities" at the "Google for Korea" event held on the 2nd at the Chosun Palace Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, discussing Google AI Gemini. Photo by Yonhap News

Google explained that with Personal Intelligence, Gemini can now provide answers by integrating information tailored to the user's situation, in addition to data from the internet.

For example, if a user asks Gemini with Personal Intelligence enabled about replacing car tires, the service can suggest the optimal tires by combining information such as tire specifications suitable for the user's car, based on photos saved in Google Photos, and typical driving conditions. If a user requests suggestions for a family vacation, Gemini can create an itinerary based on past travel records and the user's personal interests.

Google emphasized that this app-connection feature of Personal Intelligence was designed with privacy protection as the top priority. By default, the feature is deactivated, and users can choose whether to activate it and which apps to connect. Users can also disconnect apps at any time if they wish. Additional features include the ability to disable personalization for specific conversations or use a "temporary conversation" mode that does not save chat history.

Google further clarified that users' personal data is not used to train the Gemini model. The company stated that emails or photos in Google Photos are only referenced at the time a response is generated and are not used for AI training. Sensitive data, such as health information, is also not preemptively assumed or mentioned unless the user specifically asks about it.

However, Google acknowledged that Personal Intelligence may have difficulty understanding subtle nuances. For example, if a user who does not enjoy golf visits a golf course for the sake of their family and takes hundreds of photos, Gemini might mistakenly identify the user as a golf enthusiast.

This feature will first be rolled out as a beta version to select "AI Pro" and "AI Ultra" subscribers in the United States. Google plans to expand availability to more countries and to free users in the future.

With the release of these high-performance, cutting-edge models and services, Google is now seen as posing a serious challenge to OpenAI, which has been a dominant force in AI. When Gemini 3.0 Pro was unveiled in November last year and outperformed OpenAI's latest model, GPT-5 Pro, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued a "code red" alert within the company and called for a company-wide effort to improve ChatGPT's performance. About a month after releasing GPT-5.1, OpenAI launched a new version, GPT-5.2, last month.

Notably, Google has been expanding its reach by providing Gemini as the foundational model for Apple's AI service, "Apple Intelligence." Earlier, Google and Apple issued a joint statement on the 12th, announcing that they had signed an agreement to build the next-generation Apple AI foundation model based on Google's Gemini model and cloud technology. As a result, Apple Intelligence is expected to operate on Gemini later this year.

Gemini is also gradually capturing ChatGPT's market share. According to global market research firm Sensor Tower, Gemini's global monthly active users (MAU) in November increased by 30% compared to August last year. In the same period, ChatGPT's growth rate was only 6%.