If you use Gmail, you can disable this automatic setting before it’s too late

Another day, another “feature” is activated in a load-bearing app that you want to turn off.

For Gmail users, there’s an automatic opt-in that allows Google to access your emailed data (think: your personal and work messages, your attachments) “to train AI models,” cyber security experts allege. If you do not want this information shared, you need to adjust your settings.

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“Important message for everyone who uses Gmail. You are automatically opted in to allow Gmail to access all your private messages and attachments to train AI models,” engineer Dave Jones shared on X earlier this week. “You have to manually turn off Smart Features in the Settings menu in two places.”

via @eevblog / Twitter: @eevblog

As companies race to achieve ROI on AI, we’re already seeing new, human-generated data for language learning models running. And as HuffPost previously reported, tools such as AI assistants that automatically take meeting notes were already considered an opportunity to passively obtain data from users in work settings. (Boring corporate meetings are not exempt either!)

“Google uses information to improve our services and develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public. For example, we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features such as Google Translate, Gemini Apps, and cloud AI capabilities,” according to the company’s privacy policy.

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Notably, Bloomberg has already reported a proposed class-action lawsuit against Google. According to the complaint, users allege that the company “secretly” allowed Gemini to “access and exploit the entire recorded history of its users’ private communications, including literally every email and attachment sent and received in their Gmail accounts.”

Google did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s questions about the process for opting users in and out of these features or about the class action lawsuit. A Google spokesperson told HuffPost via email that the reports were “misleading,” adding that “Gmail Smart features have existed for many years, and we do not use your Gmail content to train our Gemini AI model.” “We are always transparent and clear if we make changes to our terms of service and policies,” the spokesperson added.

However, if you still want more control over how AI is used in your life (the Pew Research Center reports that 6 in 10 Americans share this concern), there’s some good news: You can turn it off.

Read on to find out how.

Turning off Gmail’s AI-Training Opt-In

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To turn off this feature, you need to open your settings and manually opt out in two different places.

On the desktop, you go to your settings (the little cog up in the top corner) and look at the “General” tab. There, you can do your first opt-out and deselect “Smart Features”.

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Then, you click on “Manage workspace smart feature settings” (pictured above) and it will take you to a second pop-up that allows you to turn on and off features in Google Workspace and other Google products.

Opting out earlier will turn off the “Ask Gemini” feature that summarizes content, as well as personal searches and events automatically added to your calendar from your email.

The latter will opt you out of features that show you restaurant reservations and to-go orders on maps, recommended tickets or loyalty cards to use in Wallet and answers, reminders and suggestions from Google Assistant and the Gemini app.

If you are on mobile, you can change these settings by going to your Settings page (located at the bottom of the Inbox menu) and selecting “Data Privacy”. From there, you can toggle “Smart Features” and click the “Google Workspace Smart Features” menu to disable this feature again for Workspace and Google products.

An annoying part of this is that some of the useful Gmail features that we are used to are removed by opting out. Things like “Smart Compose” as well as features that automatically filter your emails into “Promotional” and “Social” inboxes, and spell-checking, grammar checking and auto-correction are currently bundled with the Gemini opt-in.

So, when you opt out of sharing your information, you may want to consider whether you’re willing to lose some benefits in exchange. And you should probably read your emails a little more carefully.

But for many concerned with their privacy, it’s better than letting others do it.

This article originally appeared HuffPost.

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