Google is aware that viral social media posts and even online reports can be "misleading." With the AI wave, everything can be associated with data training. The tech giant is not spared from this allegation.
There's an article claiming the company changed its policies to use Gmail messages and attachments to train AI models. Those claims also say that one can only opt out by disabling "smart features" like spell check. Google says that's simply not true.
Google Denies Reports on Gmail Data and AI Training
A Google spokesperson, Jenny Thomson, made it clear to The Verge that the rumors are misrepresenting the company's policies.
According to Thomson, Google has not changed any privacy settings, and most importantly, does not use Gmail content to train its Gemini AI model. She further emphasized that Gmail's smart features have existed for years, and recent reports, including this Malwarebytes article, are conflating unrelated policies.
Still, given the confusion, Google suggests you double-check your settings--and particularly because one employee at The Verge discovered they had once turned some smart features off and then learned those features had been toggled back on.
The reason behind the oversight is that Google released an update in January that lets users manage smart features for Google Workspace differently from smart features for other products, like the famous navigation tool, Maps.
What Smart Features Actually Do
Smart features in Gmail make everyday tasks easier. If you enable them, they power conveniences like:
- Spell check and grammar suggestions.
- Package and order tracking directly inside Gmail.
- Automatically detect flights and add trips to your Google Calendar.
But that's not quite the same as consent for AI training. Google says that smart personalization in Workspace, when enabled, allows the platform to use your Workspace activity in order to personalize your experience, not to feed email content into AI models.
As Google's settings page explains, opting in to Gmail's smart features means you "agree to let Google Workspace use your Workspace content and activity to personalize your experience across Workspace." This wording refers to in-product enhancements, not AI data harvesting.
Why Users Should Revisit Gmail Privacy Settings
Although Google continues to insist that no policy change has been made regarding the use of Gmail content for training AI, this latest update to personalization settings might have turned some features back on for certain users. Gmail users will want to double-check their Workspace and smart feature preferences to stay fully in control.
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