How to Opt Out of Google Search’s New AI Data Training Feature
Google has updated its Search history settings to retain media uploads — including images from reverse image searches — and use them to train its AI models. Users can opt out, but the default setting collects this data unless they actively change it.
Why this matters: Most people do not think of a reverse image search as handing Google a photo to keep. They think they are just looking something up. The default here matters more than the opt-out. When data collection is on by default, most people never turn it off. You may have uploaded photos of your home, your family, or something personal without any expectation that it would end up in a training dataset. The burden should not be on users to go hunting for a setting that limits what a company does with their data.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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