Google Will Save Your Images and Voice Searches to Train AI Models Under New Privacy Settings

Google Will Save More of Your Search Data to Train AI, but You Can Opt Out

You can keep Google from saving your media via Search Services History while still allowing other data to inform your search results and recommendations. Google is updating privacy settings for how some of its apps collect, save, and use your search data -- including to train its AI models -- so you should check which information is stored and opt out of anything you don't want Google to keep. How Google stores your search data Google already allows users to customize which search data are saved and for how long via Web & App Activity settings, with options to automatically delete data after specified time frames or turn off data collection entirely. In a recent email to users, Google announced two new settings, titled Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations, for searches across Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News that will be separate from Web & App Activity. When enabled, Search Services History will include any media you upload, such as images you search with Google Lens, audio spoken to Translate, voice searches, and any other files used in your interactions. Personalized Recommendations, meanwhile, will use data from Search Services History, as well as profile information and other activity across Google apps to, well, personalize search results. That includes AI responses and information relevant to your location. If you've already limited what Google can access in your Web & App Activity, these settings will carry over to Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations as the new options roll out in the next few months. Alternatively, you can customize Search Services History specifically and turn Personalized Recommendations on or off from your Google Account under Data & privacy > Personalization settings. Note that if you don't see these options yet, your privacy settings are still being controlled by Web & App Activity. You can disable saved media in Search Services History While disabling Google's data collection completely is the most extreme option for protecting your privacy, it does limit how you use Google services, including search. A compromise might be to keep Google from saving your media via Search Services History while still allowing other data to inform your search results and recommendations. From My Google Activity, select Search Services History and check or uncheck the box next to Save Media. Note that this doesn't delete previously saved media -- for that, you'll need to select View and delete saved history. (Again, if you don't see these options in your account, it means this setting isn't available to you yet.)

Google Just Launched An Alarming New Feature Aimed To Train AI -- Here's How To Turn It Off

A privacy lawyer says the new Google search feature has risks for users. Here's what you need to know. If you use Google to ask your most private questions, you don't want to ignore an important email that the tech giant recently sent to users about how a new setting will be used to train its artificially-intelligent models. In fact, one privacy expert insists that people opt out of it. With Google's expanded AI capabilities, people can upload images to Google Lens, and use live audio and video recordings to ask the search engine questions. And now, Google said it plans to save the images, files, audio and video you upload under its new "Search Services History" setting. The email to users reads in part, "Google will now save your media to your Search Services History, applying robust privacy and security protections. Like your Search Services History, your saved media is also used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models." The tech company said Search Services History can include your Google Search results, the places you view on Google Maps, Generative AI answers in its "AI Mode," and recordings and transcripts from its Search Live tool. To find this setting, sign in to your Google account, look up your current activity settings at https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity. Check to see if your "Search Services History" setting is on or select the "Turn off" box. You can also delete certain individual activity from your history. If you don't see this option yet, the feature has not rolled out to your Google account. The search giant said this feature is being rolled out over "the next few months," so if your account hasn't updated, then your history and personalized recommendations for Search Services are still controlled by "Web & App Activity." Keep in mind that this new Search Services History setting shouldn't automatically turn on unless you already allow Google to track your searches under its "Web & App Activity" setting. If you already opt out of tracking your web and app activity, then Google will also opt out of the "Search Services History" setting by default when it gets introduced to your account. Calli Schroeder, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said she would advise against people using Search Services History for their privacy. "Think really hard if you're comfortable with Google having a picture of your kid, or having a picture of you in a swimsuit that you're trying to find the maker of," Schroeder said, and if you're comfortable with Google storing this information under their privacy rules. She noted that your voice and what you look like are valuable biometric information you may want to keep out of a search engine's hands. Your search engine questions can also potentially be information that law enforcement can one day use against you, she added. In a post about the change, the company said this saved history will help tailor your Google experience, so people can more easily recall previous searches and get personalized recommendations and ads. In its emailed notice to users, the company gave examples like using the setting to revisit your past visual searches with Lens or continue a Search Live conversation about a song you heard. But a technology company's personalized recommendations might not always be beneficial to users. "Personalized recommendations can also include things like personalized prices [where] they're giving you a specific price for an item that is not the same as what other people are seeing," Schroeder said. "This speculative commentary is inaccurate -- Search Services History is not collected for biometric purposes or to change the prices we show to users in Search," a Google spokesperson said in response. "These new settings help users get more relevant results and revisit their searches -- including visual and voice searches -- and they can be turned on or off at any time." But the more you let Google remember about you, the more personal your ads might get, and that can feel revealing. "People get advertisements that are specific to their location, their presumed income level, what kind of culture they may come from, and what interests they may have there," Schroeder said. "Having these things targeted at you based on these different interests and attributes can feel very invasive and manipulative." You can turn off personalized recommendations by signing in to your Google account, selecting "Data & privacy," then Personalization settings. From there, turn off "Personalized Recommendations in Search services." Schroeder said in general, when an algorithm personalizes your answers, it can also be too narrow in its predictions and wrong about what you would like. "You could be losing opportunities that would really benefit you based on some algorithmic whim," Schroeder said, like which kinds of grants and scholarships or neighborhoods you might be interested in. "So I may not be seeing housing that would fit my budget in an area because the algorithm decided I don't belong in that area," she gave as an example. Too many people never revisit their Google account preferences. This new feature is a reminder that it's important to regularly check what your settings are, so you don't share more information about your preferences than you're comfortable with.