You can connect Search services to certain Google content apps, like Workspace (starting with Gmail, with other Workspace apps coming soon) and Google Photos, to make Search even more helpful to you. If you choose to connect these Google content apps, you can tap into your own personal context and insights to get AI Mode responses that are tailored to you.
Note: Connecting your Google content apps means that all Search services will be permitted to access Workspace (starting with Gmail, and later including others like Calendar and Drive) and Google Photos. Search services include Google Search (incl. AI Mode, Discover), Maps, Shopping, News, Flights, Hotels, and Translate.
Personal Intelligence in Search
Personal Intelligence is designed to personalize your AI Mode experience by connecting the dots across your Google content apps. When you choose to securely connect your content apps, AI Mode can reference insights from your emails and/or photos to provide responses that are specific to you, like using past restaurant reservations to personalize your responses when you ask for new restaurant recommendations.
Personal Intelligence might not always get personalization right and can make mistakes. If you experience something wrong, you can correct it and clarify what you’re looking for with a follow-up in AI Mode.
What you need
- Connecting your Google content apps is available in English to users in the US who are 18 or older.
- This is available on Gemini 3 Pro to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers with access to the "AI Mode" experiment in Search Labs. To become a Google AI Pro or AI Ultra user, subscribe to a Google AI plan.
- You must be signed into a personal Google Account.
- You must have Web & App Activity and Search personalization enabled.
- You must connect your Google content apps.
Important: You can connect the following Google content apps to Search services:
- Google Workspace (starting with Gmail)
- Google Photos
Connect your Google content apps
To get a more tailored Search experience that takes into account your interests, preferences, and unique context, connect your Google content apps to Search services. For example: If you're looking for recommendations for a weekend getaway with your family or clothing options for your upcoming trip, Search services, such as AI Mode, might look into past purchases from Workspace apps, like Gmail, or data from your Google Photos library. AI Mode could use this to personalize the response based on things like your hobbies, interests, preferred brands and dining preferences.
- On your computer, in your Google Account, go to Search personalization.
- Turn on
Personalize Search.
- Go to Additional Personal Intelligence
Connected Content Apps.
- Select Connect next to:
- Google Workspace
- Google Photos
Connected Content Apps.Important: Connecting to Google Photos isn’t available in all regions.
Turn on Google Workspace Smart Features to personalize your Search responseTo get more personalized Search responses, turn on Smart Features in other Google products in your Gmail account.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- At the top right, select Settings
- Under the "General" tab, scroll to "Google Workspace smart features".
- Select Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
- Turn a smart feature setting on or off:
- Smart features in other Google products.
- At the bottom right, select Save.
Search can’t personalize your experience based on your Google Photos data if you haven’t completed these steps:
- Turn on Face Groups and select which face is yours. Learn how to turn on Face Groups and how to select your face group.
- Turn on Estimate missing locations if not enabled. Learn how to turn on Estimate missing locations.
Important: Connecting to Google Photos isn’t available in all regions.
Common questions
Do you train AI models on my personal data? If so, what data do you train on, and do you train on my entire Gmail inbox or Google Photos library?If you choose to connect your content apps to Search services, we may use that data to improve Google services for everyone, including by training generative AI models.
Search services do not train generative AI models directly on your Gmail inbox, Drive, Calendar or other Google Workspace apps or on imagery or audio from your Google Photos library. When you interact with Search, summaries, excerpts, generated media, and inferences from your relevant media, emails, and files may be used to help us answer your prompts. To make our responses relevant, helpful, and high quality, we train our generative AI models off of these summaries, excerpts, generated media, and inferences. In some cases, for example, where the email or file is brief or particularly relevant to respond to the inquiry, the summary may just be the email or file.
We also train generative AI models on data like your questions in Search services, responses and suggestions that Search services provide you, and information about how our models generated those responses and suggestions.
For example, if you ask AI Mode to suggest some restaurants for your upcoming trip, our models might look at your emails and photos to get information about your upcoming hotel reservation and flight itinerary, as well as restaurants you’ve visited on prior trips. It would then summarize that information to provide you personalized restaurant recommendations close to your hotel at your destination.
We take steps to reduce personal information from interactions personalized using Google content apps before using them to train generative AI models powering our services, unless it's to address abuse or harm.
Please don't connect your Google content apps if they contain personal or confidential information that you wouldn’t want to be used for training generative AI models.
Note: Even if you choose not to connect Google Workspace or Google Photos, you can still upload content and images from Google Workspace and Photos to AI Mode. Depending on your settings, your uploads could be used to improve Google services with the help of human reviewers.
You’re in control of connecting apps to enhance your product experience in Search AI Mode. You can still use AI Mode if you choose not to connect Google content apps. If you choose to connect Google content apps to Search services, we may use that data to improve Google services for everyone, including by training generative AI models.
Disconnecting a connected Google content app or deleting any data in that app doesn't delete any data from your Search Services History. That data can still be used for product improvement, including training generative AI models. You can manage and delete your Search Services History by visiting activity.google.com.
Based on your other Google account and product settings, these and other Google services may collect data, share, or personalize your experience. To see your Google Account settings, visit account.google.com.
How human review helps improve Google services:
When you connect your Google content app data, a subset of that data processed by AI Mode in Search is reviewed by human reviewers (including trained service providers) to debug our services, help keep them safe, and improve them. This data includes interactions, summaries, excerpts and inferences from your relevant emails and files. In some cases, for example, where the email or file is brief or particularly relevant to respond to the inquiry, the summary may just be the email or file. It also includes summaries, inferences, and generated media based on your Google Photos library (except for cases of abuse and harm or when you submit feedback, humans don't view media from your Photos library). In addition, it includes data like your prompts in Search services, responses and suggestions that Search services provide you, and information about how our models generated those responses and suggestions.
Human reviewers improve Google services, including generative AI. For example, reviewers assess if Search AI Mode responses were low-quality, inaccurate, or harmful. They also suggest better responses. We use their suggestions to help our models respond better in the future.
Please don't connect your Google content apps if they contain personal or confidential information that you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see.
How we protect your privacy in this process
Before trained service providers review interactions personalized using Google content apps, we take steps to protect your privacy, such as disconnecting interactions from your Google Account and reducing personal information in this data, unless it's to address abuse or harm.