- Researchers found brands linked to Gmail activity appeared far more often in Google AI Mode results
- The effect was strongest for shopping searches like clothing, coffee machines and running shoes
- AI-powered search could reinforce existing habits instead of helping users discover new things
We all know that AI is often so eager to help that it can feel like it’s simply reflecting whatever you think back at you in a way that feels sycophantic and artificial. We’ve written quite a few articles about how to stop chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini from doing this, usually using some variation of the “be brutally honest” or “invert” prompt.
Now it turns out that AI’s tendency to keep you inside an echo chamber may extend beyond chatting with a bot. Researchers claim that if you’ve got Google’s Personal Intelligence switched on, AI Mode could start feeding more brands from your Gmail activity back into your search results.
Gmail has the biggest influence on AI Mode
Researchers at iPullRank tested nearly 2,000 Google AI Mode responses and found that brands connected to a user’s Personal Intelligence data appeared dramatically more often in results. In accounts linked to services like Gmail, certain brands showed up in AI answers almost three times as frequently and were far more likely to appear in the top recommendations.
Gmail appeared to have the biggest influence. Brands connected through email activity were cited far more often than brands linked through other Google services like Photos. The effect was especially noticeable for everyday shopping categories such as hoodies, coffee machines and running shoes, suggesting Google’s AI recommendations may become easier to shape based on a user’s personal data and habits.
As we reported recently, Google Search is increasingly turning into AI search, whether you like it or not, but if the new research from iPullRank is accurate then Google’s new AI-powered search risks becoming a giant confirmation-bias machine, feeding users more of the brands and products they already know instead of helping them discover new ones.
Turning Personal Intelligence off
Personally, I can see the benefits of Google wanting to become an answer engine rather than just a search engine. A lot of the time when I’m using search, I’m simply looking for a fast answer to a question, so this change can genuinely save me time. But the danger of personalization replacing exploration is that we lose some of the magic of Google Search leading us toward unexpected websites, products or ideas that turn out to be genuinely useful.
Before we raid Google towers carrying pitchforks and torches, it’s worth remembering that Personal Intelligence is an opt-in feature designed to make AI feel more useful and personalized to you. If you’re worried about it reducing the chance of serendipity in your search results, you can turn it off.
Personal Intelligence is off by default, but if you’ve enabled it and now want to disable it, open Gemini’s Settings (the gear icon at the bottom left), select Personal Intelligence, then click Connected Apps and toggle the services you want Gemini to access, such as Gmail.
It’s also important to note that this testing was carried out by external researchers, rather than Google publicly confirming exactly how AI Mode rankings and recommendations are generated.
Still, the findings raise an interesting question about the future of AI-powered search. If search engines become increasingly personalized around our habits, purchases, conversations and preferences, are they actually helping us explore the web, or just building increasingly convincing digital mirrors that reflect our existing tastes right back at us?
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