AI Misses - Gemini Memory

This week, Gemini Advanced rolled out a very cool new feature, one that has been a favorite of mine on ChatGPT for half a year now. It’s a memory feature, the ability to remember things you tell it to remember - your interests, job role, favorite cuisine or places to eat out, your dog’s name, for example. Of course you need to be careful about NOT asking it to remember (or even sharing within normal interactions) any sensitive details about you, your loved ones, your bank accounts, and anything in that neighborhood.

The thing is, at least in all my efforts with it this week, Gemini is very good at not remembering anything I ask it to. It has a 100% record on that so far, has not recalled anything I asked it to. I hate slamming Gemini again, but it does feel like it has a bit of history of swings and misses. It is a terrible Google Assistant replacement. Until not so long ago it used to say it couldn’t search the web ( pretty weird for a product made by the web search’s monarch). Until recently it couldn’t access mainstay Google apps like Docs and Drive.

This is what the top of release notes for the new feature looks like:

2024.11.19

Priority access with Gemini Advanced: Ask Gemini to remember the things you care about, and get help that’s unique to you.

• What: Starting today, you can ask Gemini to remember Opens in a new window your interests and preferences, whether it’s about your work, your hobbies, or your general aspirations in life. This helps Gemini provide even more helpful and relevant responses, tailored precisely to your needs. Think of it as giving Gemini a user manual, designed by you. You can share info and manage info saved with Gemini either through natural conversation or on the dedicated "Saved Info" page. You’re in control: easily view, edit, or delete any information you’ve shared with Gemini, and Gemini will display when it makes use of your saved info. Define how you want Gemini to interact with you, and it will adapt accordingly, giving you full authority over the information it saves and uses. The experience is available in English with Gemini Advanced as part of the Google One AI Premium Plan.

I have tried to make this work on the Gemini web app and mostly on the Gemini Android app. Here are some of the comical exchanges from my latest efforts this evening on the Android app:

I started by asking straight up, can it remember things, and got a big yes for an answer:

Then asked it to remember a simple thing, my dog’s breed:

I closed the app, re-opened it a couple minutes later, and tested out Gemini’s big memory brain, which looks like it has the night off:

An even funnier interaction is this one. I’m sure that is not how this feature is meant to work.

I’ve tried typing into Gemini and asking it to remember something, using normal voice-to-text, and using live voice, and so far they all fail.

ChatGPT’s memory feature is one of my favorite AI features of any kind. I love that I can chat to it about an idea or a topic I want to learn more about, then come back two months later, confirm that it recalls *everything* about that prior conversation and pick it right up.

I won’t give up on Gemini for this purpose yet. it would be great to see ChatGPT have some competition on this super useful feature - but for now this is a big miss for Gemini.