Summary
- Temporary Chats in Gemini disappear after 72 hours, similar to Incognito mode.
- New “Keep Activity” setting in Gemini allows Google to sample chats for AI training.
- Privacy tweaks in Gemini offer better control over data retained by Google.
The uncomfortable truth about an AI chatbot is the more it knows, the more it can help—which is the whole point of these things existing. Of course, you may not always want your weird questions to be part of your digital record. Gemini is getting new features for this very reason.
“Temporary Chats” in Google’s Gemini app is exactly what it sounds like—a chat that disappears after a certain amount of time. It’s essentially Incognito Mode for Gemini. However, this is much better than using an Incognito window. You can still use the premium features of Gemini that would normally be locked away if you were signed out, like uploading files and images. Temporary Chats stick around for 72 hours just in case you have a follow-up, but after that, they’re gone. You won’t see them again, and they won’t influence your future conversations.
The next new setting is called “Keep Activity,” and it’s set to replace the existing “Gemini Apps activity” toggle, which was a bit confusing. Like the old toggle, this new setting will be enabled by default and will allow Google to sample some of your conversations and uploads to train its AI models. This setting is coming to Gemini next month.
If you don’t want your data used for this purpose, you’ll need to turn it off. The good news is that if you had the old “Gemini Apps activity” setting disabled, “Keep Activity” will also be disabled by default. If you need to make the change, you can head into the Gemini app’s settings, find the “Personal context” section, and toggle it off.
These are nice improvements for Gemini’s privacy. Everything you enter into Google—whether it’s an old-fashioned web search or a chat with Gemini—is being recorded somewhere unless you disable it. However, chats with Gemini tend to go far beyond what you would enter in a Google Search, so the added privacy options are nice to have.
Source: Google