Personal Intelligence, formerly a paid feature, is now available to all US users. Google Assistant is being shut down. And Gemini is rewriting how Workspace works.
On March 17, 2026, Google made Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature free for all US users — a quiet move that may end up mattering more than most of the louder AI headlines of the month.
Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature — which gives the AI access to your Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, YouTube history, and other connected apps to deliver contextually aware responses — went free for all US users on March 17th. Previously, this was locked behind Gemini Advanced, the paid tier. Now it's available through Search, Chrome, and the Gemini app at no cost.
In practical terms, this means you can ask Gemini to "find that email from Sarah about the budget meeting" or "summarize the document I was working on yesterday" and get responses that actually know what you're talking about, because the AI has access to your actual data. It's the kind of feature that sounds minor in a press release and turns out to be transformative in daily use — assuming you're comfortable letting Google's AI read your email, which is a separate conversation entirely.
“Gemini in Docs can now generate fully formatted first drafts based on information pulled from your Gmail, Chat history, and Drive files.”
Workspace got a significant upgrade too. Gemini in Docs can now generate fully formatted first drafts based on information pulled from your Gmail, Chat history, and Drive files. Sheets and Slides received similar treatment. The vision is clear: Google wants Gemini to be the connective tissue between all its productivity apps, turning fragmented information scattered across services into coherent output.
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Key Takeaways
→Gemini: Yes, as of March 17th, 2026, Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature is free for all US users, giving the AI access to Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, and YouTube history for contextually aware responses.
→Google: Yes, as of March 17th, 2026, Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature is free for all US users, giving the AI access to Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, and YouTube history for contextually aware responses.
→AI: Yes, as of March 17th, 2026, Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature is free for all US users, giving the AI access to Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, and YouTube history for contextually aware responses.
→Google Workspace: Yes, as of March 17th, 2026, Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature is free for all US users, giving the AI access to Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, and YouTube history for contextually aware responses.
For Pixel users, the March 2026 drop brought agentic AI tasks — Gemini can now perform multi-step actions on your phone, like booking a restaurant or adjusting settings across apps. Circle to Search got smarter. A standalone Now Playing app launched.
And the transition nobody's talking about: Google Assistant is being shut down on mobile devices this month. The final deadline has arrived. If you've been holding out, hoping Google would change its mind, they didn't. Gemini is the replacement, period.
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On the developer side, Gemini 3 Pro Preview was deprecated on March 9th, with Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview taking its place. The API continues to evolve rapidly, with new capabilities landing monthly.
Google's AI strategy has always been about distribution — putting AI inside the apps that billions of people already use. With Personal Intelligence going free, that strategy has reached its most ambitious phase yet. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a Workspace briefing last month that the company's goal is for Gemini to be "so embedded in how you work that you stop thinking of it as AI and start thinking of it as how Google works." The March update is the clearest step toward that outcome so far.
Yes, as of March 17th, 2026, Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature is free for all US users, giving the AI access to Gmail, Google Photos, Docs, and YouTube history for contextually aware responses.
Is Google Assistant being shut down?
Yes, Google Assistant is being shut down on mobile devices in March 2026, with Gemini serving as its permanent replacement.
What can Gemini do in Google Workspace?
Gemini can now generate fully formatted first drafts in Docs based on information from Gmail, Chat, and Drive, with similar AI-powered features added to Sheets and Slides.
