How to Stop Google AI from Snooping Through Your Emails

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Thought this handy info might be interesting to some email users.

Apparently, they make it a little "challenging" to disable the AI from scanning your emails and attachments, but it might be worth the effort to give it the cold shoulder.

How to Stop Google AI from Snooping Through Your Emails
by Lucas Nolan and Colin Madine 22 Nov 2025

Google has quietly started accessing Gmail users’ private emails and attachments to train its AI models, requiring manual opt-out to avoid participation. To make the process even trickier, Gmail users have to opt out in two separate places for the change to work. Follow these steps to protect your privacy from Google’s invasive AI endeavors.

Malwarebytes reports that Google has recently implemented changes that enable Gmail to access all private messages and attachments for the purpose of training its AI models. This means that unless users take action to opt out, their emails could be analyzed to improve Google’s AI assistants, such as Smart Compose or AI-generated replies.

The motivation behind this change is Google’s push to enhance Gmail’s features with the company’s Gemini AI, aiming to help users write emails more efficiently and manage their inboxes more effectively. To accomplish this, Google is utilizing real email content, including attachments, to train and refine its AI models. These settings are now reportedly switched on by default, rather than requiring explicit opt-in consent.

As a result, if users do not manually disable these settings, their private messages may be used for AI training without their knowledge. While Google assures strong privacy measures are in place, such as data anonymization and security during the AI training process, those handling sensitive or confidential information may find little comfort in these promises.

To fully opt out of Gmail’s AI training, users must change settings in two separate locations. This article features a guide and images for opting out on desktop, but the selections are very similar if accessing Gmail via the mobile app...

To be fair, there may be some good, as they explain in the article about AI scanning all up in your business, as it might be better able to coach you on writing that next email.
Yeah, c-o-a-c-h you. That's the ticket!

Hey! At least they give you the choice, though I don't recall them advertising it.