AI-powered chatbots are gradually becoming part of our everyday lives. ChatGPT still holds the crown as the most popular AI tool. Still, Google’s Gemini AI has been gaining traction with powerful features and seamless integration across Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, and even Android phones.
This deep integration makes Gemini far more accessible than many competitors—but there’s a hidden privacy concern: by default, Google may use your conversations with Gemini to train and improve its next-generation AI models.
The idea of Big Tech reading your chats—even for “improvement purposes”—can be unsettling. Thankfully, Google provides a way to disable this setting. Let’s dig deeper.
Why Does Google Train Gemini with Your Chats?
Large Language Models (LLMs) like Gemini learn from vast amounts of data. This helps them:
- Understand patterns of human language
- Recognise context and reasoning in conversations.
- Predict what users are most likely to ask or search for
- Deliver more natural, helpful, and optimised responses.
Publicly available datasets are valuable but limited. To make AI feel “human-like,” companies use real conversations, which reflect the true variety of questions people ask—from health queries and work-related issues to personal life dilemmas.
While this does improve the AI, it also creates privacy risks. Your personal or sensitive information could theoretically be included in anonymised training datasets.
Why You Should Care About Privacy with AI
- Unintended Exposure: Even anonymised data sometimes risks leaks or reidentification in large datasets.
- Sensitive Topics: People often ask chatbots about health issues, finances, relationships, or work details—data you wouldn’t want shared.
- Future Use: Today it’s for AI training, but tomorrow, that data could shape ads, recommendations, or targeted services.
- Multi-Account Risk: If you use multiple Google accounts (work, study, personal), ensure that your privacy settings are updated on all.
How to Stop Gemini from Using Your Chats on Desktop
- Visit gemini.google.com and sign in.
- Open the menu (three horizontal lines) on the left side.
- Go to Settings & Help.
- Select an Activity from the options.
- Toggle off Gemini Apps Activity.
- (Optional but Recommended): Delete your previous Gemini activity so past conversations aren’t stored. Google will erase them after 72 hours.
- Repeat these steps for all linked Google accounts.
How to Stop Gemini Tracking on Mobile
- Open the Gemini app on your Android or iOS phone.
- Tap your account icon in the top-right corner.
- Select Gemini Apps Activity.
- Toggle off the option.
- Delete old activity logs for better privacy.
Note: Google may rename this setting to “Keep Activity” in upcoming updates, but the disabling process will remain the same.
Extra Tips for Stronger Privacy
- Use Guest Mode or Incognito Chat: For casual or sensitive queries, avoid using your signed-in account.
- Review Google Account Privacy Settings: Regularly check myactivity.google.com to see what data is being logged.
- Limit AI Integration: If you’re concerned, avoid linking Gemini with Gmail, Google Drive, or other data-heavy services.
- Stay Updated: Privacy features change frequently. Watch out for new Google announcements.
- Consider Alternatives: Some third-party chatbots allow you to opt out completely from data training.
Gemini is powerful because of its tight integration with Google’s ecosystem, but that convenience comes at the cost of privacy trade-offs. By turning off Gemini Apps Activity (and deleting old logs), you regain control over what data is shared and ensure your conversations aren’t quietly teaching Google’s AI.
Your chats are private thoughts. Taking five minutes to tweak your settings helps keep them that way.
