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Google’s Competitive Edge in AI Customization
Google is striving to catch up with competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI by gradually enhancing its Gemini app with features focused on customization and personalization. These improvements aim to give users greater control over the data they reference, making interactions with the chatbot smoother for both individual and enterprise users. This is particularly crucial for ongoing projects, as chatbots must remember specific details such as company branding and tone.
Unlike its rivals, Google has opted for a more measured rollout of these features, which means users will not have the ability to edit or delete their preferences. Initially available in select countries for Gemini 2.5 Pro, the “Personal Context” feature will become a default setting, enabling the app to learn from past conversations and deliver relevant, tailored responses. Google plans to extend this feature to Gemini 2.5 Flash in the coming weeks.
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Previously, users had to guide the model to specific chats to establish preferences, such as referencing earlier conversations. However, users can disable Personal Context at any time. Michael Siliski, Senior Director of Product Management for the Gemini app, stated that this rollout is part of a broader initiative to enhance personalization. “At I/O, we introduced our vision for the Gemini app: to create an AI assistant that learns and truly understands you—not one that merely responds to your prompt as it would for anyone else,” Siliski explained in a blog post.
Currently, the Gemini app retains chats for up to 72 hours if the save activity option is disabled, and it can automatically delete other activities at intervals of three, 18, or 36 months.
New Features and Data Control Options
Additional features being introduced to the Gemini app include Temporary Chat and enhanced customer data control. Temporary Chat, which was also launched on ChatGPT in April of last year, allows users to engage in one-off conversations that do not influence future interactions and are not used for personalization or AI training.
Google has also announced new data control options. This feature, which is off by default, enables users to prevent their data from being utilized in future Google model training. “When this setting is enabled, a sample of your future uploads will help improve Google services for everyone. If you prefer not to have your data used in this manner, you can disable this setting or utilize Temporary Chats. If your Gemini Apps Activity setting is currently off, your Keep Activity setting will remain off, but you can enable it at any time,” Siliski noted.
This update expands on a previous enhancement that allowed users to select which audio, video, and screens to share with Gemini. Google’s Gemini updates come a year after its major competitors introduced similar functionalities. For instance, ChatGPT launched temporary chat, chat history, and memory in 2024, with updates in April of this year that now allow ChatGPT to reference all past conversations. Similarly, Anthropic introduced Styles in November 2024, enabling Claude users to customize their interactions, and recently updated Claude to reference all conversations, not just those specified by users.
Despite Google introducing personalization in Gemini 2.0, the model previously could only reference past conversations if prompted by the user. The ongoing competition surrounding memory, personalization, and customization continues to intensify, as users increasingly expect chat platforms to inherently understand their preferences and brand. This capability provides essential context and reduces the need for users to repeat instructions for ongoing projects.
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