Consider this a belated PSA: A recent change to Google’s privacy settings allows the company to store more of your data, including media like “images, files, and audio and video recordings,” to improve its AI models. In other words, if you upload any media to Google Search services, it is used to train artificial intelligence unless you opt out.
The change came about through an under-the-radar update to the privacy settings of Google’s Search services, announced in June via customer email. With the update, the company essentially opted humans into this extensive AI training under the guise of giving users more control over their saved history and personalized recommendations.
The update introduced two new settings, Search Service History and Personalized Suggestions, allowing you to configure how your activity is used to personalize your Google experience and how long your web and app activity is stored.
This update applies beyond Google Search itself and also includes other search services such as Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate and News.
For example, when you use Google Lens to visually search for something by taking a photo, that image can now be saved for AI training.
Similarly, if you are using the newer Search live voice search capability in the Google app, these recordings could be saved, just like any other Google voice search. If you use Google Translate to practice speaking, that audio is also saved.
The changes reflect a broader industry shift toward collecting data by any means necessary to improve AI services. Instead of relying solely on information scraped from the web, Google and others are increasingly collecting data that people upload or create when they use their services. Meta is another example of a consumer-facing tech company doing this at scale, training its AI on user images and media, as well as content captured by its AI glasses.
Google confirms its use of media training directly, stating in this email to customers: “Like Search Services History, your stored media is also used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including artificial intelligence models and security measures.”
Of help documentation It echoes this, noting that the company “uses your history to provide, develop, and improve its services (such as training AI models) and to protect Google, its users, and the public with the help of human reviewers.”
Some of this storage is temporary and tied to the product’s operation, but according to Google’s language, the stored media can also be kept specifically for training its AI.
Customize your settings
The good news is that you have some control here. You can change your preferences at Search service history and Personalization of search services pages. In the first, you can uncheck the “Media storage” box separately from the “Search service history” box, or uncheck both. You can also configure how often you want the saved data to be deleted automatically — after 3 months, 18 months or 36 months.
From there, you can go to this page to delve into other privacy settings like Web & App Activity, Timeline, YouTube History and more.
In addition to stored media, Google also uses your search history, location, and other information from the websites you visit to personalize your Google experience, including the ads you see.
Prior to this update, Google allowed you to configure the search history data stored through the Web and app activity settings. This has now been split into two settings: web and app Activity data and the new search data setting, which is enabled by default.
This means that if you make a change to your Web and App Activity data retention settings in an attempt to opt out of the tech giant storing your data, the update will no longer affect your use of Google Search services, as it is now a separate option.
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