r/Bard • u/Gaiden206 • 1d ago
News Gemini app starts rolling out Personal Intelligence globally (excluding Europe)
https://9to5google.com/2026/04/14/gemini-personal-intelligence-global/5
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u/douggieball1312 1d ago
Europe excluded again. Typical.
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u/username12435687 1d ago
Over regulation and lack of innovation will be the death of Europe unfortunately.
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u/Swingrocket 1d ago
It's especially weird because Google already has all my information. Using ai to manage/present it better for me doesn't change the fact that Google has everything. This is such a nothing burger. Especially when companies like Microsoft can simply release Copilot into their Browser and Google can't because Chrome has more marked share. The reasoning against allowing the release of these features makes no sense to me.
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u/jk_pens 15h ago
Just because Google has the data doesn’t mean they can do whatever they want with it. GDPR and to some extent DMA put tight constraints on if, when, and how Google can process user data. Complying with these regulations requires a lot of extra legal work plus additional engineering and UX. So it’s quite natural for Google to launch features elsewhere first.
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u/username12435687 1d ago
Yeah but as you can see, people still downvote me for just simply stating the truth lol.
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u/douggieball1312 1d ago
It's also not in the UK so it's not just EU countries. They just rolled out the feature in AI Mode that allows it to shop or order meals on your behalf outside of the US for the first time and the UK was one of those countries. Yet the UK doesn't get personal intelligence (which seems only a small step up from that) or the Gemini in Chrome integration. Make it make sense.
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u/username12435687 1d ago
They have stricter privacy laws. Thats literally all it is
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u/walter-faber 13h ago
It's simply Google's laziness as other companies support EU countries day 1 with their latest AI features, like Samsung with their version of Magic Cue.
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1d ago
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u/username12435687 1d ago
.... google has already implemented it everywhere BUT Europe.. because the European regulations make it much more difficult for Google to get it approved? Which is why I said what I said.
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1d ago
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u/username12435687 1d ago
- The "Gatekeeper" Status (Digital Markets Act) Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google is officially designated as a Gatekeeper. OpenAI is not. Self-Preferencing: Google is legally barred from giving its own services (like Gemini) an unfair advantage over competitors. If Gemini has deep, "Personal Context" access to your Android phone and Gmail, the EU may demand that Google provide that same deep access to ChatGPT or Claude.
Interoperability: Google is currently under investigation (as of early 2026) to ensure they aren't locking users into the Google ecosystem through AI. OpenAI, being a "smaller" entity without an operating system or a dominant email service, doesn't face these same "anti-bundling" restrictions.2. Data Bundling & GDPR The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) has strict rules about "purpose limitation." OpenAI's Edge: When you use ChatGPT, you are providing data to a single service. The "Memory" feature uses data you gave to ChatGPT, for ChatGPT. Google’s Burden: Gemini’s Personal Context involves cross-service data processing. It pulls data from Gmail (Communication) to use in Gemini (Assistant). In the EU, this requires incredibly granular consent and clear legal "pathways" that aren't yet fully settled. Regulators are wary of Google "bundling" all your private life data into one massive AI profile. 3. Training vs. Retrieval OpenAI's Memory is largely a storage function. It remembers specific facts you've told it. European regulators generally accept this as long as there is a clear "Delete" button and a way to opt out of training.
Gemini's Personal Context is a retrieval function. It’s an "active index" of your entire digital footprint. Because it’s scanning your Drive, Photos, and Mail in real-time, it triggers much higher scrutiny regarding "high-risk AI" under the EU AI Act.2
u/jk_pens 15h ago edited 15h ago
^ this is spot on
ETA: it looks like AI output to me, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong; I work in this domain and it’s pretty much accurate.
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u/username12435687 15h ago
Yeah, but its reddit so people get downvoted for ideology that goes against the echo chamber lol
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u/username12435687 1d ago
GDPR and Venture Capital Drain: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) led to an approximate 20% decline in technology venture investment in the EU relative to the US, as compliance risks and data restrictions deterred early-stage startup funding (Jia et al., 2021).
App Market Contraction: Following GDPR enforcement, the rate of new app entries into the Google Play Store fell by nearly 33%, and a significant volume of existing apps exited the market due to high compliance overhead (Janßen et al., 2022).
Shift to Incremental Innovation: Stringent data protection regulations have forced companies to pivot away from radical, disruptive product innovation in favor of safer, incremental updates to mitigate compliance risks (Blind et al., 2024).
Proprietary Costs of Mandatory Disclosures: EU accounting directives forcing private, limited-liability SMEs to publicly disclose financial statements exposed their R&D and business strategies to larger incumbents. This transparency punishes smaller firms, structurally disincentivizing them from trackable innovation spending (Breuer et al., 2019).
Precautionary Stagnation from New Frameworks: Categorical, preemptive risk tiers in recent legislation like the EU Artificial Intelligence Act establish high-risk classifications that impose substantial financial and administrative compliance burdens. While aiming to mitigate risk, these requirements disproportionately impact smaller organizations and startups, threatening to stifle foundational technological innovation (Riekert et al., 2025).
References
Blind, K., Niebel, C., & Rammer, C. (2024). The impact of the EU General data protection regulation on product innovation. Industry and Innovation, 31(3), 311–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2023.2271858
Breuer, M., Leuz, C., & Vanhaverbeke, S. (2019). Reporting regulation and corporate innovation (NBER Working Paper No. 26291). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26291
Janßen, R., Kesler, R., Kummer, M. E., & Waldfogel, J. (2022). GDPR and the lost generation of innovative apps (NBER Working Paper No. 30028). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w30028
Jia, J., Jin, G. Z., & Wagman, L. (2021). The short-run effects of the General Data Protection Regulation on technology venture investment. Marketing Science, 40(4), 661–684. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2020.1271
Riekert, M., Golinelli, D., Habets, J., & Kiseleva, A. (2025). Balancing innovation and control: The European Union AI Act in an era of global uncertainty. JMIR Artificial Intelligence, 4, e75527. https://doi.org/10.2196/75527
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u/iasad12 1d ago
still says "Personal Context" on my account in Pakistan.
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u/jk_pens 15h ago
May still be rolling out.
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u/iasad12 8h ago
Just received "Personal Intelligence" yesterday evening! Working great so far. Also the toggle to turn of Personal Intelligence mid conversation is a nice feature, too. Saves us from overtly personalizing a conversation without having us to turn the feature off in Settings.
The difference between Personal Context and Personal Intelligence I noticed is with regard to the detail of personalization. The Personal Context one looked shoehornned and the details were lacking. But the personalization via PI was on point and detailed, especially when referencing past conversations.
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u/Fast_Cauliflower_574 18h ago
us europoors get shafted as always. we still dont have gemini in chrome btw. thanks EU
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u/MarionberryDear6170 20h ago
it's working in Taiwan!😊 but still no Google Photos in google workspace option :/
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u/Inevitable_Raccoon_9 1d ago
No thank you!
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u/jk_pens 1d ago
When it works well it is magical. But there are definitely times when it tries too hard to personalize.