Gmail might be harvesting your emails to train AI—here’s how to opt out

A big concern in this new and fancy AI era is taking proper care of the stuff we actually give to AI models. These days, training AI models with your input is typically an opt-in thing—mostly because governments already had a say in it. Google, however, is apparently taking the liberty to train Gemini using your Gmail account. And you actually need to opt out.

Google has apparently implemented data practices within Gmail that allow the company to utilize user emails for training its artificial intelligence models. Google’s systems are accessing the contents of emails, including attachments, to refine and power AI-driven features such as Smart Compose and automated reply suggestions. While these features are designed to enhance user convenience, the method by which they are powered has raised significant privacy concerns, particularly because Google has enabled these data-sharing settings by default. This means that unless users take manual action to opt out, their correspondence is currently being used to train Google’s algorithms.

Because the AI training involves scanning the actual content of messages to understand context and language patterns, sensitive information is potentially vulnerable. Without manual intervention, the system has access to a wide array of private documents that frequently pass through email servers, including confidential workplace conversations, medical records from healthcare providers, utility bills, and monthly bank statements.

What’s worse is the fact that it’s actually opt-out. When you enable AI features within Gmail or Google Workspace, you’re automatically giving your consent for Google to scan through all that stuff. Thankfully, as I just said, you can actually opt out.

By clicking the gear icon to access the Settings menu—or selecting “See All Settings” on your phone—you can scroll down to the “Smart features and personalization” section. Here, there is a checkbox labeled “Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet.” Unchecking this box stops the core data collection for these specific communication apps. Desktop users must ensure they scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save Changes” for the selection to take effect.

There’s also a second layer of settings that governs how data is shared across the broader Google ecosystem. After addressing the first setting, you must return to the Settings menu and locate the section for “Smart features and personalization in other Google products.” This toggle controls how Gmail, Chat, and Meet data is used to personalize experiences in other Google services, such as Maps or Assistant. Once both settings are disabled, the changes apply universally to the Google account, meaning you do not need to repeat the process on every device they own.

It’s pretty bad, but make sure to follow the above steps so you’re completely in the clear.

Source: Malwarebytes via AppleInsider