There have been many privacy and AI issues in the past.Now, a user noticed that Google’s AI assistant Gemini was analyzing and summarizing Google Drive documents, even though the settings were turned off. In short, artificial intelligence is at work despite the obstacles. Here are the details…

Google Gemini accesses your Drive files without permission

After Microsoft’s Recall scandal, Google now seems to have a privacy problem with its artificial intelligence called Gemini. A few weeks ago, the company integrated Gemini into cloud apps like Google Docs and Google Drive as a new sidebar. This would allow users to analyze, summarize and make suggestions on documents. But things didn’t go quite as planned.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), a user named Kevin Bankston noted that AI was accessing personal and sensitive documents without permission. For example, Gemini summarized a tax document, and when Bankston asked how to turn off the feature, it redirected him to a settings page that didn’t exist.

Bankston did a manual search and found the relevant option, but it was already disabled. So the Google Gemini AI wasn’t supposed to access the file, but it did anyway. Neowin also confirmed this problem in a test. There, Gemini analyzed and summarized all the documents in Google Drive, even though it was disabled.

Just pulled up my tax return in @Google Docs–and unbidden, Gemini summarized it. So…Gemini is automatically ingesting even the private docs I open in Google Docs? WTF, guys. I didn't ask for this. Now I have to go find new settings I was never told about to turn this crap off.

— Kevin Bankston (@KevinBankston) July 10, 2024

Google has not yet reacted to the incident. For those who don’t want to use Gemini in Google Cloud applications, the company only recommends that they opt out of the Workspace-Labs program altogether. So, it’s an all or nothing situation. But in any case, Google seems to be seriously violating user privacy.

Every day we hear new news about artificial intelligence. This is because every IT company is now trying to integrate the technology into their products. Big companies like Microsoft, Meta and Google are integrating their AI models and assistants deeper into their systems. In the process, issues around user privacy and data protection often arise.

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