Google just made a big move in the AI space.
The company announced a new feature for Gemini that changes how the assistant works with your personal data. This feature lets Gemini access your emails, photos, and more to give you answers based on your actual life.
The idea sounds useful. An AI that knows your schedule, remembers your past trips, and understands your preferences could save a lot of time. But this level of access raises serious questions about privacy and data handling.
This article breaks down what Google announced, how the feature works, and what it means for your data. We also look at the privacy concerns you should know about and explore an alternative for users who want personal AI without the trade-offs.
What this article covers:
- How Gemini Personal Intelligence works
- Who can access this feature right now
- What data Google collects and how they use it
- Privacy risks and limitations Google has admitted
- A privacy-focused alternative worth considering
Executive Summary
Google launched Personal Intelligence, a new Gemini feature that connects your Google apps to the AI assistant. This gives Gemini access to your emails, photos, calendar, and search history to provide personalized answers. The feature is currently available only to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States with personal accounts.
Privacy concerns surround this feature. Google claims they do not train models directly on your files, but they do use your prompts and Gemini's responses for training. Users cannot verify these claims independently. The system also has known issues with accuracy and over-personalization.
For users who want personal AI without cloud-based data sharing, Elephas offers an alternative. It keeps all data on your Mac and works offline.
Key takeaways from this article:
- Personal Intelligence requires connecting Google apps to Gemini
- Only paid Gemini AI Pro and Ultra U.S. subscribers can access it now
- Your prompts and responses are used for AI training
- No way to independently verify Google's privacy claims
- Elephas provides offline personal AI with full user control
What is Gemini Personal Intelligence
Google has added a new feature to Gemini called Personal Intelligence. This feature lets you connect your Google apps directly to Gemini so it can help you in more specific ways.
Without this feature, Gemini only knows general information from the internet. It cannot see your emails, your photos, or your calendar. Personal Intelligence changes that. When you turn it on, Gemini can access your personal data from Google apps. This means it can give you answers based on your actual life, not just general knowledge.
The setup process is simple. You go to Gemini settings and connect your apps with a single tap. You decide which apps to link. You do not have to connect all of them. Pick only the ones you are comfortable sharing.
Apps you can connect to Gemini:
- Gmail for email content and communication history
- Google Photos for your images and memories
- Google Calendar for events and schedules
- YouTube for your watch history and preferences
- Google Search for your browsing patterns
Google keeps this feature turned off by default. You have to go in and turn it on yourself. You stay in control the whole time. If you change your mind later, you can disconnect any app whenever you want.
One useful part of this feature is source tracking. When Gemini pulls information from your connected apps, it tries to show you where that answer came from. This helps you verify the information. If Gemini gets something wrong about you, you can correct it right there in the chat by simply telling Gemini the right information.
What Can You Do With Personal Intelligence?
Personal Intelligence turns Gemini into a tool that actually knows your stuff. It can search through your connected apps and pull out specific details when you need them. This includes information buried in old emails or photos you took months ago.
The feature shines when you need quick answers from your own data. Say you are planning a weekend trip and cannot remember the name of that hotel you stayed at two years ago. You ask Gemini, and it searches your Gmail for booking confirmations and your Photos for location data.
It finds the hotel name, pulls up your past photos from that trip, and even suggests similar places based on where you have traveled before. All of this happens in one conversation without you opening multiple apps or scrolling through old emails yourself.
Gemini connects information from text, photos, and videos to give you complete answers based on your personal history.
Who Can Access This Feature?
Personal Intelligence is not available to everyone right now. Google is rolling this feature out slowly over one week to users who meet specific requirements. Once you get access, the feature works with all models in the Gemini model picker.
Google has said they plan to expand availability to more countries and free tier users in the future, but no timeline has been shared.
Currently eligible users:
- Google AI Pro subscribers in the U.S.
- Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S.
- Personal Google accounts only
Not eligible at this time:
- Workspace business accounts
- Enterprise accounts
- Education accounts
- Users outside the United States
If you meet the requirements but do not see the feature yet, check back in a few days. You can also go to Gemini settings and look for Personal Intelligence under the Connected Apps section to see if access has reached your account.
Privacy Concerns With Personal Intelligence
What Data Does Google Access?
When you turn on Personal Intelligence, you give Gemini permission to look at data from your connected apps. This is not surface level access. Gemini can read through your actual email content, view your photos, check your YouTube activity, and see your search history. The depth of access depends on which apps you choose to connect.
Google points out that this data already sits on their servers. They argue that you are not sending sensitive information to a new place. Your emails and photos were already stored with Google before this feature existed. Personal Intelligence simply allows Gemini to read what is already there. Whether this makes you feel better about the access is a personal decision.
The key thing to understand is that connecting an app means full access to that app. Gemini does not just look at recent items or selected folders. It can search through years of stored data to find relevant information.
Data Gemini can access when enabled:
- Full email content and attachments in Gmail
- All photos and their metadata in Google Photos
- Complete YouTube watch history and preferences
- Your entire Google Search history
- Location data from your content and devices
How Google Uses Your Data
Google makes a clear distinction between referencing your data and training on it. They say they do not train their AI models directly on your Gmail inbox or your Photos library. When you ask Gemini a question, it looks at your emails and photos to find the answer. But those actual files are not fed into the training process.
However, this does not mean nothing gets used for training. Google does use your prompts and the responses Gemini gives you. Every question you ask and every answer you receive can become part of the data that improves their models. Google claims they filter out or hide personal information from these conversations before using them for training purposes.
The difference matters, but it can be confusing. Your photo of a family vacation stays untouched. But your conversation asking Gemini about that vacation could be used to make the AI better at similar tasks for other users.
What Google says is NOT used for training:
- Your actual emails and attachments
- Your photos and videos
- Your personal documents and files
What Google says IS used for training:
- Your prompts and questions to Gemini
- Gemini's responses to you
- Conversation patterns after personal data is filtered out
Known Limitations and Risks
Google openly admits that Personal Intelligence is not perfect. The feature is still in beta, and mistakes will happen. One common issue is over-personalization, where Gemini makes connections between topics that have nothing to do with each other. It might assume two things are related just because they appear in your data around the same time.
The system also struggles with nuance. Gemini might misunderstand your actual interests based on what it sees in your photos or emails. Google shared an example of this problem.
If Gemini sees hundreds of photos of you at a golf course, it might assume you love golf. But the truth could be different. Maybe you do not care about golf at all, but you go there because your son loves it. Gemini cannot understand that kind of context on its own. If this happens, you can correct it by simply telling Gemini that you do not like golf.
Personal changes like divorces or new relationships can also confuse the AI because it relies on old data.
Issues Google has acknowledged:
- Inaccurate or wrong responses
- Over-personalization errors linking unrelated topics
- Difficulty understanding relationship changes
- Misreading your true interests from limited data
- Timing mistakes around recent life events
The Trust Problem
Users must take Google at their word about how their data is handled. There is no way to verify these claims on your own. You cannot audit the system or check what really happens to your emails and photos behind the scenes. All data processing takes place on Google's servers, and you have no visibility into that process.
This situation reflects a bigger trend in AI development. More companies want access to your personal data because it makes their AI tools more useful. Personal Intelligence is one example, but others will follow. Each time you enable a feature like this, you trade some privacy for convenience. Better answers come at the cost of data exposure.
The decision comes down to whether you trust the company enough to let them into your personal life. The benefits might be worth it for some users. Others may find the privacy costs too high.
Key concerns to consider:
- No independent way to verify privacy claims
- All processing happens on company servers
- Users cannot audit how data is actually used
- Convenience comes with data exposure
- Personalization creates surveillance potential
- Control over your data depends on company policies
Alternative: Elephas - Personal Intelligence You Control
What is Elephas?
Elephas is a Mac knowledge assistant that offers personal AI without the privacy trade-offs. The key difference from Google's approach is where your data lives. With Elephas, everything stays on your own device. Nothing gets uploaded to external servers.
You decide exactly what information goes into your personal knowledge base. Instead of giving blanket access to all your apps, you pick specific files and content to add. The tool can work entirely offline, which means your personal data never leaves your computer.
Key differences from Gemini Personal Intelligence:
- Your data stays on your Mac at all times
- You control what the AI learns about you
- No data sent to company servers
- Works completely offline
How Elephas Super Brain Works
Super Brain is the core feature that creates your personal knowledge base. You manually add files, notes, and web content that you want the AI to know about. The system then creates local embeddings on your device. These embeddings allow the AI to search and understand your content without an internet connection.
Only the information you choose gets added. There is no automatic scanning of your accounts or apps. You build your knowledge base piece by piece with full awareness of what goes in.
What you can add to Super Brain:
- Documents in formats like PDF, CSV, and JSON
- Notes and snippets from any application
- Web pages and articles you save
- YouTube video content
- Files from note-taking apps like Obsidian or DevonThink
Complete Offline Functionality
Elephas uses local embeddings that work without any internet connection. You can pair this with in built local LLM models or through tools like Ollama. This setup keeps your sensitive information private because nothing ever goes online.
This offline approach makes Elephas suitable for confidential work. People in restricted environments or those handling sensitive data can use personal AI without network exposure.
Offline capabilities include:
- Local embedding creation on your device
- Local AI model support through LM Studio and Jan AI
- No internet required for core features
- Data remains on your Mac permanently
Multiple AI Provider Support
Elephas does not lock you into one AI provider. You can choose from different options based on what each task needs. For general work, you can use online providers like OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini. When handling private information, switch to offline AI models instead.
This flexibility lets you balance quality and privacy for each situation. Use powerful cloud models when privacy is not a concern. Use local models when it is.
Supported AI providers:
- OpenAI
- Claude
- Gemini
- Groq
Why Elephas Offers True Personal Intelligence
Elephas gives you personal AI without asking for access to all your accounts. You do not connect your email, photos, or search history. Instead, you build your knowledge base by adding specific content you want the AI to use.
There is no hidden data collection happening in the background. No unclear statements about what gets used for training. Your personal intelligence stays truly personal because only you control what goes into it and nothing leaves your device.
Privacy advantages over cloud solutions:
- No account connections required
- No server-side data processing
- No unclear training practices
- Full transparency on what AI knows about you
- Complete control over your knowledge base content
