Gemini Goes the ChatGPT Way: Google Adds Chat Memory, Personalisation, Private Mode and New Privacy Questions

Google has announced updates to its Gemini AI app- the ability to remember past conversations. The company says it will make Gemini feel more personal and useful, but it could also expand the amount of personal data Google holds on you and keep it for longer. 

Google Gemini gets a new “Personal context” feature that allows Gemini to store details from previous chats and use them to shape future responses. Say you’ve talked about your favourite authors, Gemini might recommend similar books later. Or if you’ve shared your food preferences, it could work those into meal suggestions.

While this could make conversations feel more natural, the memory setting is on by default. Users who don’t want Gemini to keep chat history will need to manually turn it off or delete past conversations from the app’s settings.

New Private mode with limits

Google is also introducing Temporary Chat, a mode for one-off conversations that won’t be added to your history or used to train its AI models. However, these chats are still stored for up to 72 hours before being deleted, meaning they’re not entirely real-time private.

More control or more data collection?

 The latest Google update also rebrands “Gemini Apps Activity” as Keep Activity, which covers how files, images, and other uploads might be used to improve Google’s services. Even with clearer labels, turning this off still requires digging into settings, something many users never do.

Voice, video, and screen-sharing data remain off by default for training purposes, but Google offers an opt-in.

Why is this worrying 

Much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is making headlines for revealing that it holds users’ data, even the deleted ones, the Gemini app’s latest features raise many privacy-centric questions. While personalised AI can be convenient, such features create bigger, more detailed user profiles. This could make the data more valuable and more vulnerable in the event of breaches or misuse. Having memory on by default may also mean users unknowingly hand over far more information than they realise. Google says users remain in control, but the burden is on them to understand the settings, turn off memory, and regularly review stored chats.

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