Google Enhances Gemini AI With Personalized Responses
In an effort to stay ahead in the competitive AI chatbot market, Google is introducing a new capability to its Gemini chatbot that allows it to deliver highly personalized responses based on users’ preferences and activities across Google’s ecosystem. Dubbed Gemini with Personalization, this experimental feature is designed to tailor answers to users’ habits, making interactions more intuitive and relevant.
Announced on Thursday, this update enables Gemini to reference data from various Google services, including Search history, YouTube, and Google Photos, to enhance responses. Dave Citron, Gemini’s product director, stated that this move is intended to make the chatbot feel like an extension of the user rather than just another AI tool.
“These updates are all designed to make Gemini feel less like a tool and more like a natural extension of you, anticipating your needs with truly personalized assistance,” Citron wrote in a blog post provided to TechCrunch. “Early testers have found Gemini with personalization helpful for brainstorming and getting personalized recommendations.”
How Gemini with Personalization Works
At launch, Gemini with Personalization will first integrate with Google Search before expanding to other services over time. The feature operates using Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental AI model, a reasoning-based system that determines whether personal data from Google services, such as Search history, would be beneficial in answering user queries.
Users who opt into personalization can expect responses tailored to their habits. For example, if a user asks for restaurant recommendations, Gemini will consider their recent food-related searches. If someone inquires about travel destinations, Gemini will factor in places they have looked up before.
Citron highlighted that narrow and preference-based questions, such as “Where should I go on vacation this summer?” or “What would you suggest I learn as a new hobby?”, will see the most significant improvements in response quality due to this personalization.
Despite its potential, the introduction of personalized AI responses raises privacy concerns. However, Google has taken steps to mitigate these risks.
Privacy Measures and Opt-In Requirements
To address potential concerns regarding data privacy, Google is making Gemini with Personalization an opt-in feature, ensuring that it is not enabled by default. Users under the age of 18 will not have access to it.
Before accessing Search history or other Google services, Gemini will request explicit permission. Additionally, a banner will be displayed to indicate when personalization is active, and users will have the option to disconnect their Search history at any time.
“When you’re using the personalization experiment, Gemini displays a clear banner with a link to easily disconnect your Search history,” Citron said. “Gemini will only access your Search history when you’ve selected Gemini with personalization, when you’ve given Gemini permission to connect to your Search history, and when you have Web & App Activity on.”
Google is rolling out Gemini with Personalization to Gemini users on the web starting Thursday, excluding Google Workspace and Google for Education customers. The feature will gradually be introduced on mobile and will be available in over 40 languages in most countries. However, it will not be launched in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, or the U.K.
While the feature is currently free, Google hinted that future usage limits may apply.
“Future usage limits may apply,” Citron mentioned in the blog post. “We’ll continue to gather user feedback on the most useful applications of this capability.”
Additional Features and Enhancements for Gemini
Alongside the personalization update, Google is introducing several other upgrades to its Gemini AI, including new models, app connectors, and expanded research tools.
Subscribers to Gemini Advanced, Google’s $20-per-month premium plan, now have access to an upgraded version of 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental. This model supports file attachments, integrates with apps like Google Calendar, Notes, and Tasks, and includes an expanded 1-million-token context window. A context window refers to the amount of text an AI model can analyze at once—1 million tokens equate to approximately 750,000 words, significantly increasing the chatbot’s ability to process long-form queries.
According to Google, this latest model version is faster, more efficient, and better equipped to handle tasks that involve multiple applications. For instance, a user could issue a command like “Look up an easy cookie recipe on YouTube, add the ingredients to my shopping list, and find me grocery stores that are still open nearby.”
Google is also expanding Deep Research, a Gemini feature designed to search the web and compile detailed reports on various topics. The updated version now provides users with visibility into its reasoning steps and employs 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental as the default model. This change is expected to yield higher-quality, more insightful reports.
In response to growing competition from OpenAI’s latest research tools, Google has increased Deep Research usage limits for Gemini Advanced customers.
More Benefits for Free Gemini Users
Free-tier Gemini users are also receiving some upgrades. Gems, which are customizable, topic-focused chatbots within Gemini, were previously only available to Gemini Advanced subscribers. However, Google is now making them accessible to all users.
In the coming weeks, all Gemini users will also gain access to integrations with Google Photos. This will allow them to perform tasks like searching for specific images from past trips using AI-powered queries.
Competition and Market Implications
The AI chatbot industry is evolving rapidly, with major players like Google, OpenAI, and Amazon continuously developing new features to differentiate their offerings. OpenAI recently introduced the ability for ChatGPT on macOS to directly edit code within supported applications, while Amazon is working on a more autonomous version of Alexa.
With Gemini’s new personalized AI features and expanded capabilities, Google aims to strengthen its position in the AI space by offering a unique, user-centric experience. However, the long-term success of these enhancements will depend on user adoption, the effectiveness of privacy measures, and whether Google ultimately decides to place restrictions on free access.
For now, Gemini with Personalization represents a step toward making AI chatbots more adaptive and intuitive, potentially redefining how users interact with AI-powered virtual assistants.
Also Read: Google Enhances Gemini AI for Samsung Galaxy S25 and Android Devices
