- Google objects to viral report on its AI training
- The report states that your Gmails were used to train the Gemini AI model.
- Google says it’s ‘misleading’ and explains what ‘smart features’ are
Privacy and artificial intelligence are both very important right now. So it’s no surprise to see recent claims that Google is using your Gmail to train its Gemini AI model are going viral. Luckily, those claims were incorrect, as Google has now dismissed them as “misleading” and explained what’s really going on.
According to the original (and now corrected) article from security company Malwarebytes, you can keep your data out of Gemini’s reach by turning off Gmail’s smart features. However, Google has now backed down, stating that it was not using “Gmail content” to form Gemini.
Google’s response is part of a statement to The Verge, in which company spokesperson Jenny Thomson said: “These reports are misleading: we haven’t changed anyone’s settings, Gmail’s smart features have been around for many years, and we don’t use your Gmail content to train our Gemini AI model. »
Shortly after this statement, Malwarebytes corrected its original article. The updated article notes that while the Gmail settings in question weren’t actually new, “the way Google recently rewrote and displayed them led many people (including us) to believe that Gmail content could be used to train Google’s AI models and that users were automatically opted in.”
So, what are smart features?
The official explanation for Google’s Smart Features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet is that they “use your content and activity in these products to personalize your experience in these apps.”
What does this mean? Some specific examples include automatic email filtering, smart compose (the text suggestions you receive in emails), and summary cards above emails (which give you a quick summary of order tracking, events, and more). So this is all potentially useful, but it’s not the same as training Google Gemini.
You can check if smart features are enabled in Gmail by going to Settings > General and scroll down to “Smart Features.” Here you will see a checkbox to enable or disable the setting. Google says this should be disabled by default, although some users have anecdotally claimed otherwise.
We’ve checked with Google to confirm that smart features are still enabled for standard Workspace and Gmail, and will update this article if we receive a response.
Where does the confusion come from?
Malwarebytes clarified that after taking a closer look at Google’s documentation, it does not appear that Google is using the content of your emails to train its AI. Although Google scans your emails to enable its smart features, which include spam filters, email categorization, writing suggestions and more, it doesn’t do this to help train Gemini.
So where does this confusion come from? Malwarebytes claimed that “Google’s updated language around ‘smart features’ is vague, and the term ‘smart’ often implies AI – especially at a time when Gemini is integrated into other parts of Google’s products. When the new wording started showing up for some users without much explanation, many assumed it signaled a broader change,” it said.
What’s more, all this furore happened around the same time as a proposed class-action lawsuit in California, which “alleges that Google gave Gemini AI access to Gmail, Chat, and Meet without proper user consent,” according to Malwarebytes.
If you were worried that Google would take your private emails and feed them to a slant AI algorithm, that doesn’t seem to be the case. That said, Google hasn’t always had the best reputation when it comes to user privacy, with many controversies erupting in recent years. If you want a truly private messaging experience, there are many good alternatives.
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