Google's Gemini may be accessing user documents on Google Cloud even when asked not to do it [Update]

Update- A Google spokesperson reached out to us to provide the following statement:

Our generative AI features are designed to give users choice and keep them in control of their data. Using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to proactively enable it, and when they do their content is used in a privacy-preserving manner to generate useful responses to their prompts, but is not otherwise stored without permission.

The company also shared a blog post with us that outlined the privacy and security aspects of using generative AI with Google Workspace. Furthermore, Google also pointed out to us that data from documents or files on Workspace is not ingested or stored and that the company does not "use your Workspace data to train or improve the underlying generative AI and large language models that power Bard [now Gemini], Search, and other systems outside of Workspace without permission."

Original Story- The last couple of years has seen a rise in Artificial Intelligence (AI), from Microsoft's Copilot to Google's Gemini. While, this has opened up many new opportunities, the ever growing use and implementation of AI has also exposed privacy issues associated with generative AI.

Now, a claim from Kevin Bankston (via Tom's Hardware) has raised eyebrows regarding the workings on Google's Gemini AI. Recently, Google announced that it is rolling out Gemini sidebar to Google cloud apps, like Google Docs and Drive. The sidebar allows Gemini to see what the user is working on and provide suggestions or analyze files. However, in Kevin's case, Gemini decided to access and read his tax documents without the explicit permission.

Kevin noted that Gemini had summarized his tax PDF without him prompted the AI to do so and when asked how to disable the setting, Gemini guided him to settings that did not even exist. While, Kevin was able to identify the correct setting, he noted that the setting was already disabled so Gemini should not be accessing the documents and summarizing them. Google does have a support document detailing how to use Gemini in Google Drive, however, the company does not detail how to disable the feature or prevent Gemini from accessing any data stored on Google Drive. Unfortunately, in our case too, Gemini was not able to guide properly to the disable option.

In the subsequent tweet, Kevin shared a way to disable Gemini from reading data on Google Drive by turning off Gemini extensions.

In my case too, the Google Workspace extension was turned off but Gemini was able to read and summarize all the documents on my Drive account. Google does not have any details on this and the company just suggests opting out of Workspace Labs altogether if you want to prevent Gemini from reading documents/files on Google Drive.