Google’s AI Is Learning From Your Data by Default — Here’s How to Stop It

Consider this an important public service announcement: Google has updated its privacy settings, allowing the company to store a broader range of user data — including images, files, audio, and video recordings — to help train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.

In other words, media uploaded through Google Search services may now be used for AI training by default unless users actively opt out.

The change arrived through a relatively low-profile update to Google's Search services privacy settings, first communicated to users via email in June. Google described the update as a way to give users greater control over their saved history and personalised recommendations, but it also automatically enrolled users in data collection for AI development.

The update introduced two new settings:

• Search Services History

• Personalized Recommendations

This determine how Google stores user activity, personalises experiences, and how long that information is retained. The policy applies across Google Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News.

The scope of the data being collected extends beyond simple search history. Images uploaded through Google Lens, voice recordings from Search Live and Google Search, as well as audio used in Google Translate, can all be stored and potentially used to improve Google's AI systems.

This reveals a growing trend among technology companies to train AI using content directly created or uploaded by users, rather than relying solely on publicly available internet data. Meta has adopted a similar approach by using content shared across its platforms and AI-powered devices to improve its models.

Google openly acknowledges this practice. In a notification sent to customers, the company stated: "Your saved media is also used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models and safety measures." I

ts support documentation further explains that user history may be used to develop services, train generative AI models, and enhance safety systems, with some reviews involving human moderators. While Google notes that some stored data is required for product functionality, its own policy confirms that saved media can be retained for AI training purposes.

Users who prefer not to contribute their personal content to Google's AI development can still opt out. Within the "Search Services History" settings, users can disable the "Save Media" option independently or turn off Search Services History entirely.

Google also allows users to automatically delete stored activity after 3, 18, or 36 months and provides access to additional privacy controls such as Web & App Activity, Timeline, and YouTube History.

However, Google continues to use search history, location data, and browsing activity to personalise services and deliver targeted advertisements.

One important change is that Search Services data is now managed separately from the traditional "Web & App Activity" settings.

This means disabling or modifying Web & App Activity no longer automatically stops Google from storing Search Services data, as the new Search data setting is enabled by default. For users concerned about digital privacy, reviewing these settings is now more important than ever.