When it comes to AI chatbots, there is currently a war for consumer attention. All the big chatbot providers are looking to grow their user base, and in a bit of a coup for themselves, Google just made it a lot easier for users of those other chatbots to opt out of Gemini.
On Thursday the company was announced what it calls “toggle tools,” new widgets designed to let users transfer “memories” (key pieces of personal information) and even entire chat histories from other chatbots directly into Gemini. Users can easily share “key preferences, relationships and personal environment” this way, the company says.
The idea is to make adoption of Google’s AI assistant significantly easier, as users won’t have to spend a lot of time re-educating Gemini about who they are and what they want.
The memory feature works like this: Gemini will suggest a prompt that the user can enter into their current chatbot, which will then generate a response that can be copied and pasted back into Gemini. In this way, Gemini guides the user on what kinds of information would be useful to know about them, while also helping to facilitate the transmission of that information back to their own file.
“Once you enter these memories, Gemini will understand the same basic information you’ve shared with other apps, like your interests, your sibling’s name, or where you grew up,” the company says. “Instead of starting over, you can quickly put Gemini into what matters most to you.”
When it comes to importing chat history, Google says all you need to do is upload it to a zip file. It’s relatively easy to extract zipped chat logs from most chatbots — including from ChatGPT and Claude. This allows users to “seamlessly pick up where you left off,” the company says. Google says users also have the ability to search through these old conversations.
ChatGPT remains the big kahuna in the consumer chatbot market, with OpenAI announcing last month that it has reached 900 million weekly active users. Gemini — despite Google’s huge distribution advantages, including its default placement on Android devices and the Chrome browser — lags behind in consumer opinion. Last month, it shared its own numbers during Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings call, saying Gemini had surpassed 750 million monthly active users. This move is clearly intended to help Google catch up.
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