If you’ve seen scattered reports across social media regarding Gmail’s newfound focus on training Google’s AI models on your emails, you can take a deep breath, as the company says these reports are “misleading.”
Last week, various posts across social media like this one went viral, accusing Google of automatically opting Gmail users into AI model training through the company’s Workspace-based “smart features.” When publications like Malwarebytes — which has since issued a correction to its reporting — picked up on the bait, Google clearly found itself in a situation where it needed to reply. Late on Friday, the company issued this stance through Gmail’s Twitter account, pushing back on reports and pointing out that those “smart features” aren’t exactly new.
It’s a fairly direct statement, even if the word “misleading” leaves wiggle room for additional concerns. Still, taking this comment at face value, Google says Gmail messages are not used to train Gemini, no user’s settings have been adjusted within Gmail to allow for training AI models, and if a change to the company’s terms and policies does happen, it’ll make a clear and direct announcement.
It’s understandable for consumers to be concerned their data is being harvested to fuel AI models, especially because, in some cases, it is. But at the same time, these sorts of posts aren’t too far away from the “share this post to stop Facebook from (insert bad change here)” memes that frequently spread across the web throughout the 2010s. Considering how platforms like Twitter allow users to monetize their posts, this sort of scam now has a financial incentive behind it, even if there’s a genuine concern fueling the bulk of those reposts.
While the actions of Big Tech over the past decade or so have left consumers understandably untrusting of these companies, it’s worth remembering that a stranger on social media is just as likely — if not more so — to lie to you. Doing your due diligence is a good idea, but keeping a healthy skepticism over social media-centric posts like this is equally important.
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