Google’s Personal Intelligence AI Mode

Brett Tabkeon

Remember when Google Gmail caught so much grief for reading your inbox? Well, here we go again for the AI era.

Google announces Personal Intelligence as a new feature in its AI Mode for Search. This opt-in option is available to Google AI Pro and better subscribers, integrates data from a users Gmail and Google Photos act to personalized Serps. For instance, it can suggest travel itineraries based on your email bookings or recommend shopping items aligned with your photo history and preferences.

This new capability goes beyond traditional keyword matching or even standard AIO. When a user opts in, Google’s AI Mode can reference elements from their Gmail and GPhotos to create a cearch responses.

Examples Google gives include:

  • Recognizing hotel reservations in Gmail to tailor travel recommendations. (can you see “fake hotel email” spammers cranking up? we can – it could be a gold mine)
  • Noticing items captured in Google Photos to influence product suggestions.
  • Drawing connections between past purchases and future queries.

Google says Personal Intelligence does not train on a user’s inbox or photo library directly. Instead it uses those data points at query time to tailor output with an advanced Gemini model, and users can turn connections on or off (hmmm, so it is going to scan your inbox every query – hmmm, sounds suss).

In summary, while Personal Intelligence offers intriguing personalization, its rollout could exacerbate existing problems in search, privacy, and web economics. Google should prioritize transparency and fair compensation for content sources to mitigate these risks.