How to Opt Out of Google Search’s New AI Data Training Feature
Key takeaways
- Every piece of media, from photos you upload for reverse image searches to audio of you speaking with Google Translate, may be retained in your account and used to improve Google’s AI models.
- This new option in Google’s account settings, called Search Services History, was already enabled when I visited the page for the first time.
- When this rolls out to your account, you can visit Google’s My Activity page and then select the Search Services History tab to opt out.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Photograph: Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story. A little piece of my soul shrivels up every time I get a message laying out how another company plans to use personal data in ever encroaching ways for AI training. I got one of those emails recently from Google, with the subject line: “New privacy settings for Search services.” It’s part of Google’s global rollout happening over the next few months that will change how it handles users' Search history data.
Every piece of media, from photos you upload for reverse image searches to audio of you speaking with Google Translate, may be retained in your account and used to improve Google’s AI models.
This new option in Google’s account settings, called Search Services History, was already enabled when I visited the page for the first time. (If a user previously disabled Google’s Web & App Activity and Search Personalization toggles, then it would be off.) Also, the box to save all my uploaded media from Google Search for AI training was already checked. Great.