Google adds tools to import ChatGPT, Claude chats into Gemini
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- Google announced "switching tools" — new widgets letting users import "memories" (personal info like preferences, relationships, and context) and full chat histories from other chatbots directly into Gemini.
- Google described the memory-import process: Gemini suggests a prompt the user enters into their current chatbot, copies the response, and pastes it back into Gemini, effectively coaching users on what personal data to extract.
- Google said full chat histories can be imported by uploading a zip file, noting that most major chatbots — including ChatGPT and Claude — already support zip exports.
- ChatGPT leads the consumer market with 900 million weekly active users, a figure OpenAI announced last month, while Gemini surpassed 750 million monthly active users per Alphabet's Q4 earnings call last month.
- Google has distribution advantages — Gemini is the default AI assistant across Android devices and integrated into the Chrome browser — yet still trails ChatGPT in consumer mindshare, the gap these switching tools are designed to close.
Why it matters: Switching costs in consumer AI have been a moat for incumbents, and Google is now attacking that moat directly by making defection nearly frictionless for the most valuable user asset — personal context. With ChatGPT at 900M weekly actives versus Gemini's 750M monthly actives, even a small conversion rate from import features could meaningfully shift the competitive balance in Google's favor.
