Gemini can now connect the dots across your Google apps

For a while now, using AI chatbots has felt a bit like talking to a brilliant stranger. They know everything about the world, but they don’t know you. However, Google is taking a significant step toward bridging that gap with a brand-new feature called “Personal Intelligence.”

Launching as a beta in the U.S., this new update allows Gemini to securely connect with your Google apps—specifically Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, and Search—to give you answers that actually fit your life.

Connecting the sots

We have seen extensions in Gemini before, but this goes a layer deeper. Personal Intelligence isn’t just about retrieving a specific email when you ask for it; it is about reasoning across your data.

Google’s VP of the Gemini app, Josh Woodward, shared a great example of this in action. Imagine you are at an auto shop and need tires. Instead of digging through your glovebox, you can ask Gemini. It can find your car’s trim level from an old email, look at your Google Photos to see that you take family road trips (and suggest all-weather tires accordingly), and even pull your license plate number from a random background photo in your library. It connects the dots so you don’t have to!

Privacy and availability

Giving an AI access to your inbox and photo library obviously sounds scary, but Google seems well aware of the hesitation here. The most important thing to know is that this feature is completely opt-in. It is off by default, and you have to manually go into your settings to turn it on. You also have granular control, meaning you can choose to connect Google Photos but leave Gmail disconnected if you prefer.

Google also clarified that they have put guardrails in place for sensitive topics. For instance, Gemini is designed to avoid making proactive assumptions about your health data unless you explicitly ask it to discuss it. And perhaps most importantly, Google confirmed that they do not train their models directly on your Gmail inbox or Photos library.

The catch? It’s currently a limited rollout. Starting today, access is coming to “eligible” Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. first. While I’m bummed it isn’t on the free tier yet, this does feel like a big move that could make Gemini feel more like a true personal assistant rather than just a chatbot.