Curated By: Shaurya Sharma
Last Updated: August 12, 2023, 16:51 IST
Mountain View, California, USA
Google logo and AI Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken, May 4, 2023. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
Google clarifies that it is not using user data without consent for AI training—addressing concerns about generative AI and privacy commitments.
Google has come forward to say that the company does not use user data to train their respective AI models without permission. The search giant also claims that generative AI does not change their commitments towards privacy; rather “reaffirms” them.
This is likely in response to the growing popularity of generative AI this — has led to increasing concerns among users that companies are using their data to train their AI chatbots and large language models (LLMs).
Yulie Kwon Kim, Vice President, Product Management, Workspace Platform has clarified that Google doesn’t use users’ Workspace data to “train or improve the underlying generative AI and large language models that power Bard, Search, and other systems outside of Workspace without permission.”
In addition to generative AI, Google Workspace guarantees that the content you add to its services—such as emails and documents—is yours. Kim went on to say that “we never sell your data, and you can delete it or export it.”
Google has also stated that it does not collect, scan, or use your content in Google Workspace services for advertising purposes.
Kim further stated that Google’s privacy commitment with “Workspace extends to all of its users. But they aren’t just words.” And to make sure that Google continues to meet these “high standards,” independent auditors validate Google’s “practices against international standards.”
Interestingly, Google can still use publicly available information to train its AI models. Back in July this year, Google reworked the wording of its privacy policy, and switched “AI models” for “language models,” and now, it can use publicly available information to build feature sets and even complete products like Google Bard, and more. Meaning, anything and everything that is public and available online can now be used to train its AI models like PaLM 2 and in future, even Gemini.