AI competitor research: keep internal files out with 2 conversations
In AI competitor research, use one conversation for public facts and another to apply them to your own company.
Key points
- Split into 2 requests: public and fit
- Public: internal search off, Web only
- Fit chat: name internal files, Web off
- Public or internal? Open the citations
Overview diagram in preparation
Contents
Split competitor questions into public facts and fit to your company
A&A perspective
Separating sources in AI competitor research means turning two questions into separate requests that use different material, and asking them in separate conversations. One question checks the facts a competitor has published. The other applies those facts to your own moves. If you put both to an AI that can also read your email and internal files in a single request, facts from a public page and your own past views end up side by side in one answer.
From the sources
Google Drive, Google's file storage, has a screen for asking questions to Gemini, Google's AI. As an example of how to use it, Google's help describes gathering a pitch deck, a client's emails and past contracts as sources to prepare for a meeting with that client.
A&A perspective
Connecting many documents to produce an answer is what this screen does well. Automate & Augment (A&A), which writes this article, thinks this strength backfires in competitor research.
A&A perspective
Once your own sales notes mix into the basis of an answer, you cannot tell whether a line is a fact the competitor published or your own guess unless you open the citations one line at a time.
Hypothetical example
Suppose a 6-person web design company looks up the prices and lead times of two nearby competitors to work out how to position its own proposals. "What prices and lead times do Company A and Company B publish?" is a public-facts question. "What makes clients choose us over them?" is a fit question, and for that one it is fine to use your own proposals and sales notes.
A&A perspective
Before you write the request, sort the questions into these two. The table below is a sample research request sheet that sets out, for each of the two conversations, the question to check, the material to use, the search settings, when you may add places to search, and how to check the citations.
A&A perspective
The setup steps below follow the help for Gemini in Google Drive. How to translate this to other AI tools is covered in the FAQ at the end.
Start the public-facts conversation with internal search switched off
A&A perspective
Start the conversation that checks public facts as a new conversation with email and internal-file search switched off. If you start without switching anything off, internal material may end up in what the answer is built from.
From the sources
According to the help, when you start a conversation from scratch (Ask Gemini at the top right of Drive, without choosing a file or folder), search of Drive, Gmail (Google's email), Chat and Calendar is on by default. Web search stays off by default.
From the sources
The left panel of the Gemini screen has a toggle that lets it search beyond the sources you selected (in the English screen, "Let Gemini search for sources"). When it is on, Gemini searches broadly across Google's apps. You can keep it on and uncheck the places you do not want used, which narrows where it searches.
From the sources
If you check Web, it searches public data on the internet for what is missing.
From the sources
In the list of sources you can add or remove files, folders and emails. Unchecking one lets you leave it in the list but not use it for the moment. The help says that files Gemini suggests are not used in answers until you add them yourself.
From the sources
Another help page says that sources used in an earlier turn can still be referenced in the current conversation. To exclude a source you included earlier, it tells you to start a new conversation and choose your sources again in the source settings.
A&A perspective
From this, A&A sets up the public-facts conversation as follows. If the toggle is on, uncheck the four boxes for Drive, Gmail, Chat and Calendar. The only place you may add to search is Web.
A&A perspective
Competitor pages and price lists that you save as files such as PDFs and upload to Drive can be added to the list of sources by name, rather than treated as a place to search. Pages not saved that way are reachable only when you add Web.
A&A perspective
Add Web only for questions that the sources you named cannot answer. Even then, do not turn the four internal places back on. If the conversation turns to internal matters, stop the public-facts question there and move to a new conversation.
A&A perspective
The help does not state the default search settings when you open Gemini from a Drive folder screen. Wherever you open it from, check the settings in the left panel before you start.
| Field | Public-facts conversation | Fit-to-our-company conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Question to check | What prices and lead times do Company A and Company B publish? | Given what they publish, what makes clients choose us? |
| Material to use | Competitors' public pages and price lists saved as PDFs in Drive | The document with the public-facts result, our own proposals, sales notes named by hand |
| Search settings | Uncheck Drive, Gmail, Chat and Calendar | Uncheck Web, and also Drive, Gmail, Chat and Calendar |
| When to add places to search | Add Web only when the named sources cannot answer | Do not add any. Find a file you cannot locate in the add-sources screen and add it by name |
| How to check citations | Is the citation a competitor's public page or a saved public document? | Line by line, is it from the public-facts document or internal material? |
Apply it to your company in a separate conversation, naming internal files
A&A perspective
Do the fit to your company in a conversation separate from the public-facts one, and add the internal files to use by name. Switch Web search off, and also uncheck Drive, Gmail, Chat and Calendar, so that only the files you named are set as sources. If new public information creeps in partway through the fit, facts you have not checked end up in the answer.
From the sources
According to the help, a Drive Project is a feature that locks in and saves a specific set of sources. You can hold many conversations on the same set. Creating a Project does not change where the original files are stored or who has permission to view them.
From the sources
When you share a Project, only the list of sources is shared, not the conversation history. A person you share it with cannot discuss a document with Gemini if they do not have permission to view the original file.
A&A perspective
A&A recommends limiting what goes into the fit conversation to three kinds of material: the document that holds the result of the public-facts conversation, your own proposals, and sales notes you picked by name. If you save them in a Project, the next competitor research can start from the same set.
Hypothetical example
In the web design company example, the result of the public-facts conversation is saved as a document called "What Company A and Company B have published." The fit conversation gets that document, the latest version of the company's proposal and recent sales notes. Older sales notes are added only if you can say why you are using them.
A&A perspective
Even when you cannot find a file you want to name, do not switch Drive search on inside the conversation. Find the file, folder or email yourself in the screen where you add sources, and add it from there. If you have already switched Drive search on partway through, stop that conversation and move to a new one.
Open the answer's citations and check whether each source is public or internal
A&A perspective
In both conversations, open the citations of the answer and check whether each line came from a public source or an internal one. Separating the settings does not guarantee that the basis never mixes.
From the sources
According to the help, hovering over the small number at the end of a sentence in the answer shows which source the information came from. Selecting the citation opens the original document.
From the sources
A different help page, which explains how sources are handled, says that Gemini searches only the sources you selected. It also says that Gemini may use data from apps an administrator has enabled, and records of your activity in those apps, as a clue for choosing closely related information.
From the sources
It adds that Gemini can be wrong even when it shows citations, and may leave out a source it used or cite a document it did not use directly.
A&A perspective
In the public-facts answer, A&A checks line by line that the citation is a competitor's public page or a public document you saved yourself. A line whose citation is an internal document is removed from the public-facts conclusion. A line with no citation is not treated as fact until you have checked it on the original page.
A&A perspective
In the answer to the fit conversation, A&A keeps a record, line by line, of whether it came from the public-facts document or from internal material. That way, when you decide on a proposal approach, you can say where the competitor's published content ends and your own view begins.
Summary
A&A perspective
Split the question that checks public facts from the question that applies them to your company into separate requests.
A&A perspective
Start the public-facts conversation as a new conversation with internal search switched off, and allow only Web to be added.
A&A perspective
Open the fit conversation separately, add internal files by name, and switch off both Web and internal search.
A&A perspective
In both, open the citations and check whether each source is public or internal before you use the answer.
In AI competitor research, keep the conversation that checks public facts separate from the conversation that applies them to your company using internal files. Switch internal search off in the public-facts conversation and allow Web only. In the fit conversation, add internal files by name and switch off both Web and internal search. In both, open the citations and check whether each source is public or internal before using the answer for your proposal approach.
FAQ
Wouldn't using our internal sales notes give a more realistic answer?
It can be closer, which is why the fit conversation uses them. Only the conversation that checks what competitors have published leaves them out.
If I lock sources into a Project, will an answer's citations come only from those sources?
Not necessarily. The help says that if you let Gemini search beyond the locked sources, it may cite related documents. It also says it may use data from apps an administrator has enabled as a clue for choosing closely related information, and that citations can leave out a source it used or list a document it did not use directly. Open the citations of each answer and check them.
Can the same split be used with AI other than Google Drive?
Setting names and defaults differ by product, and the only source for this article is Google's help. If you use ChatGPT, Claude or similar, look for the setting that connects email and internal-file search and for how to start a new conversation, and apply the same two conversations.
Sources & editorial note
Primary pages read for this article. Publication dates below belong to the sources; access dates record our research.
- Use Gemini in Drive for research & analysis
Google Drive Help · Not shown on the page
Accessed 2026-11-05 - Organize, save, and share your Gemini sources using projects in Drive
Google Drive Help · Not shown on the page
Accessed 2026-11-05 - Learn how to use sources with Google Workspace with Gemini
Google Drive Help · Not shown on the page
Accessed 2026-11-05