Administer Gemini on your Looker (Google Cloud core) instance

This documentation page describes how to administer Gemini in Looker features for a Looker (Google Cloud core) instance. It covers the following topics:

This page is intended for users who have the Looker Admin role for the Looker (Google Cloud core) instance and the Looker Admin (roles/looker.admin) role for the Google Cloud project in which the instance resides.

What is Gemini in Looker?

Gemini in Looker represents a series of features in the Gemini for Google Cloud portfolio that provides generative AI-powered assistance to help you analyze and gain valuable insights from your data.

Learn how and when Gemini for Google Cloud uses your data.

For more information about the types of tasks that Gemini in Looker can assist with, see the Gemini in Looker overview documentation page.

Understand the compliance capabilities of Gemini in Looker features

Conversational Analytics is not yet included in FedRAMP High or FedRAMP Medium authorization boundaries. Prior to enabling the Gemini in Looker setting for your Looker instance, discuss with your authorizing body whether Gemini for Google Cloud's compliance offerings meet the needs of your organization.

For Looker (Google Cloud core) instances, each Assured Workloads control package that becomes available will add Gemini in Looker features as default offerings as that package's change requirements and processes are met. Conversational Analytics in Looker respects the compliance capabilities of the associated Looker (Google Cloud core) instance, with the following exception:

Data Residency (DRZ) support, specifically for data-at-rest, is available to all Looker customers. All data-at-rest that is associated with Conversational Analytics resides strictly within the Looker instance and is confined to a single region. Data in transit may be processed using a global service.

Before you begin

To get the permissions that you need to enable Gemini for a Looker (Google Cloud core) instance, ask your administrator to grant you the Looker Admin (roles/looker.admin) IAM role on the project in which the instance resides. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

To perform the following tasks, you must be a Looker admin for the Looker (Google Cloud core) instance:

  • Enable the individual settings for features that use Gemini assistance in the Looker (Google Cloud core) instance
  • Grant users permissions to use Gemini in Looker features

Enable and disable Gemini

To enable Gemini in Looker for Looker (Google Cloud core), follow these steps in the Google Cloud console:

  1. Navigate to the Google Cloud project that hosts the Looker (Google Cloud core).
  2. Navigate to the Instances page, and click the name of the instance for which you want to enable Gemini.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Expand the Gemini in Looker (Google Cloud core) section.
  5. Select Gemini. When this setting is enabled, a Looker admin can selectively enable available Gemini in Looker features from the Looker (Google Cloud core) instance Admin panel.
  6. To enable the Gemini in Looker features that are available in Preview, select Trusted Tester features. When this setting is enabled, users can access the Trusted Tester capabilities of Gemini in Looker. This setting must be enabled in order for users to access Gemini features that are in Preview.
  7. Optionally, select Trusted Tester data use. When this setting is enabled, you consent to your data being used by Google as described in the Gemini for Google Cloud Trusted Tester Program terms.

To disable Gemini for a Looker (Google Cloud core) instance, clear the Gemini setting.

Selectively enable and disable individual Gemini in Looker features

The Gemini in Looker page in the Platform section of the Looker (Google Cloud core) Admin panel displays information about the enablement status of the Gemini, Trusted Tester features, and Trusted Tester data use settings for the instance, which are managed in the Google Cloud console. This page is also where Looker admins can manage the enablement settings for individual Gemini in Looker features.

A green check mark next to Gemini Enable status indicates that Gemini in Looker features that are generally available can be enabled for the instance. A green check next to Trusted Tested features enablement status indicates that Gemini in Looker features that are in Preview can be enabled for the instance.

To enable individual Gemini in Looker features, follow these steps in the Looker (Google Cloud core) instance:

  1. In the Admin panel, navigate to the Platform section and select the Gemini in Looker page.
  2. Turn on the following toggles to enable each of their corresponding generally available features:
  3. Turn on the following toggles to enable each of their corresponding Preview features:

You must grant the appropriate permissions to users before they can use Gemini in Looker features.

Grant Gemini in Looker permission to users

Gemini assistance is available whilst performing various tasks in the Looker instance. To use any of these Gemini-assisted features, users must be granted a Looker role that applies the gemini_in_looker permission to the appropriate models as well as a role that contains permissions to perform the Gemini-assisted task. You can assign the gemini_in_looker permission in any of the following ways:

Granting the Gemini default role

The gemini_in_looker permission is the only permission that is included in the Gemini default role, which by default applies to all models on the instance. You must also assign the access_data permission and any other permissions that may be necessary to use the specific Gemini in Looker feature.

You can assign this role to the appropriate users or groups.

Granting a custom role

To restrict users from accessing Gemini in Looker features for all models on the Looker instance, you can create a custom Looker role that applies the gemini_in_looker permission for specific models only, and assign it to the appropriate users or groups. You may need to remove those users from the Gemini Default Users group, which is assigned the Gemini default role by default. You must also assign the access_data permission and any other permissions that may be necessary to use the specific Gemini in Looker feature.

Granting Conversational Analytics roles or permissions

The Conversational Analytics Agent Manager role consists of the Conversational Analytics Agent Manager permission set for all models on the Looker instance. Users with this role can create, edit, share, and delete Conversational Analytics data agents that use Looker Explores.

The Conversational Analytics User role consists of the Conversational Analytics User permission set for all models on the Looker instance. Users with this role can chat with any Conversational Analytics data agent in Looker.

You can assign either of these roles to the appropriate users or groups. You can also create a custom Looker role that applies any of the Conversational Analytics permissions to specific models.

Adding users to the Gemini Default Users group

The Gemini Default Users group has been created automatically for all Looker (original) instances that use an open system configuration. Users in this group are assigned the Gemini role, which grants them the ability to use Gemini in Looker features when they also have a role that includes the other required permissions to use Gemini in Looker features.

You can edit the Gemini Default Users group to add or remove users, or to delete the group entirely. You can also add additional roles to the group.

For more information about how users are added to this group, see the Groups documentation page.

Additional Looker permissions may be needed to perform the tasks that Gemini assists with. See the Additional permissions section on this page for a list of these permissions.

Additional permissions

To use any Gemini in Looker features, users must be granted a Looker role that contains permissions to perform the Gemini-assisted task. These permissions are summarized in the following list:

  • To query Looker data, or to create a data agent with Conversational Analytics or with the Conversational Analytics API, you must be assigned a Looker role that contains the access_data permission for the model that you're querying. Additional permissions are required to manage and use data agents with Conversational Analytics in Looker. Conversational Analytics is available when the Conversational Analytics setting is enabled.
  • To use the Visualization Assistant to create custom visualizations with Gemini assistance, you must be assigned a Looker role that contains the can_override_vis_config permission. The Visualization Assistant is available when the Looker Assistants setting is enabled.
  • To use the Code Interpreter in Conversational Analytics to translate your natural language questions into Python code and execute that code to provide advanced analysis and visualizations, you must be a assigned a role that has the same permissions that are required to use Conversational Analytics. The Code Interpreter is available when the Code Interpreter setting is enabled.
  • To write LookML with Gemini assistance, you must be assigned a Looker role that contains the develop permission for at least one model in a LookML project. This feature is available when the LookML Assistant setting is enabled.
  • To generate Explore summaries, including the suggested purpose of the Explore and the types of data that are used in the query, you must have a role that contains the develop permission for at least one model in the LookML project and the explore permission to view and interact with Explores. This feature is available when the Explore NL Summary setting is enabled.

Provide feedback

You can provide feedback about each Gemini in Looker feature. Instructions for how to submit feedback are included in the documentation for each feature.