[HN Gopher] Gmail can read your emails and attachments to train ...
___________________________________________________________________
Gmail can read your emails and attachments to train its AI, unless
you opt out
Author : taubek
Score : 58 points
Date : 2025-11-20 22:10 UTC (51 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (www.malwarebytes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.malwarebytes.com)
| ectospheno wrote:
| Thank god they also got consent from the non google people who
| sent the email.
| mmooss wrote:
| Google can read the emails of everyone who corresponds with a
| Gmail user - which is almost everyone - and they can't opt out.
| teachrdan wrote:
| Link for the lazy:
| https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/general
|
| Find "Smart Features", uncheck, and press save, which will reload
| Gmail.
|
| Then find "Google Workspace smart features" and click the "Manage
| Workspace smart features settings" button and unselect
| everything.
| magixx wrote:
| They disable so many features when you remove "Smart features"
| i.e. Grammar, Spelling, Autocorrect, Smart Compose/Reply (those
| templated suggested replies), Nudges, Package tracking, Desktop
| notifications. Google really wants to punish you for doing
| that.
| johnnyanmac wrote:
| Turning off the inbox categories feature was particularly
| annoying. A feature they had for a good decade before
| deciding they weren't jsut happy with collecting my data.
| jeffbee wrote:
| What do you believe you have gained by throwing those switches?
| Ms-J wrote:
| Google will use your family's pictures and memories "to improve
| Google's AI assistants, like Smart Compose or AI-generated
| replies."
|
| Someone will ask a Google AI service to generate an image some
| day and your daughter will be used. And that's one of the least
| worrying outcomes.
| loeg wrote:
| That's what training means, yeah, but it isn't clear Google is
| actually doing what the article claims it is.
| mubou2 wrote:
| They're claiming that these options allow Google to use your data
| to _train_ its AI, but that 's not what it says at all. Where are
| they getting that idea from?
| rikafurude21 wrote:
| "training on our data" has turned into a catchphrase like
| "taking our guns" or "banning our books" - dumb propaganda for
| anti-AI crowd to enrage people. Whether personalized AI-based
| experience is useful can be debated but everything has to be
| twisted into culture wars, thats just how media is nowadays
| jmclnx wrote:
| Oh Well, I left gmail years ago, now it is used for junk mail,
| good luck loading ads going to gmail into your AI :)
| johnnyanmac wrote:
| [delayed]
| falleng0d wrote:
| From the dialogues in the pictures it doesn't sound like they are
| using anyones emails for training. The messaging indicates it's
| more like using as context and/or generating embeddings for RAG.
| Unless there's something else I'm not aware of.
|
| I know that Google does a lot of bad stuff but we don't need to
| make up stuff they just aren't doing
|
| This doomsday messaging an alarmism is only serves to degrade the
| whole cause
|
| edit: and before someone say that they also don't want that then
| let's criticize it for what it is (opting users to feature
| without consent). We don't need to make stuff up, it really
| doesn't help.
| johnnyanmac wrote:
| >When smart features are on, your data may be used to improve
| these features. Across Google and Workspace, we've long shared
| robust privacy commitments that outline how we protect user
| data and prioritize privacy. _Generative AI doesn't change
| these commitments -- it actually reaffirms their importance_.
| Learn how Gemini in Gmail, Chat, Docs, Drive, Sheets, Slides,
| Meet & Vids protects your data.
|
| When I click "Learn more" in toggling the smart features on/off
|
| It may not do it now, but I really don't like the implications.
| Especially a tone of "it's not actually bad, it's good!"
| gethly wrote:
| Funny how the law and the corporations see the meaning of
| "optional" differently.
| neilv wrote:
| The article is useful overall, but the following line is such bad
| journalism that I want to call it out, since we can't afford to
| have people dumbed-down.
|
| > _The reason behind this is Google's push to power new Gmail
| features with its Gemini AI, helping you write emails faster and
| manage your inbox more efficiently._
| jeffbee wrote:
| Reading comprehension and media literacy at all-time lows, below
| what cognitive scientists formerly believed was a hard floor of
| "absolute zero comprehension".
| JayD0ubleu wrote:
| It's like with Gemini and Google smart devices. You need to opt-
| in for data training to use Gemini apps. This means you won't be
| able to access basic features like asking Gemini to turn off your
| smart light bulbs. Essentially, Google is preventing you from
| using any smart features unless you allow data training on your
| own. Even to access basic features like chat history, you need to
| enable Gemini activity. This essentially allows Google to train
| on all of your conversations. This is even for paid tiers
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-11-20 23:01 UTC)