Google Gemini will now learn from your chats—unless you tell it not to (arstechnica.com)

Google has introduced a new feature called Personal Context for its Gemini 2.5 Pro chatbot, allowing the AI to remember details from past conversations to deliver more personalized and relevant responses. This marks a renewed effort to customize AI interactions, following the discontinuation of a previous personalization mode that relied on users’ Google search histories and proved unpopular. With Personal Context enabled, Gemini can adapt its replies based on prior chats without explicit prompts, improving recommendation quality and creating a more engaging user experience. Importantly, this feature is optional and can be toggled on or off from the settings, addressing privacy concerns by allowing users to control whether their chat data shapes future interactions. However, the feature won’t be available initially in the European Union, the UK, or Switzerland, and is restricted to users over 18. Google plans to expand Personal Context to additional regions and to the more efficient Gemini 2.5 Flash model in the future. While personalization can enhance usability, experts warn it also risks reinforcing inaccurate beliefs if users become overly reliant on an AI that “remembers” and tailors conversations too closely, highlighting ongoing challenges in balancing customization with responsible AI behavior.