GOOGLE QUIETLY OPTED YOU INTO AI TRAINING — YOUR PHOTOS, VOICE SEARCHES AND MAPS DATA ARE ALL BEING HARVESTED UNLESS YOU ACT NOW Most people have no idea this happened. In June, Google sent an email to its users announcing a quiet but significant change to how it handles personal data. The update, buried in the language of privacy settings and personalization tools, effectively opted everyone into a new arrangement. Starting now, any media uploaded to Google Search services, including images searched with Google Lens, voice queries made through the Google app, audio recorded through Google Translate, and searches across Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, and News, can be saved and used to train Google’s AI models. Google confirmed this directly in its own documentation, which states that saved media is also used to “develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models and safety measures.” The company also separated the old Web and App Activity setting into two controls, which means anyone who previously opted out of data storage must opt out again under the new settings. This is not a small thing. Billions of people use Google Search every day. Meta is doing the same with photos and videos on its platforms. The race to accumulate training data has moved from the open web to the things people personally say, show, and search. If you want out, you have to go looking for the new toggle yourself. Google is counting on most people not bothering. Keywords: Google AI training data, Google privacy settings, data collection, AI training opt out