If you use Google to ask your most private questions, you don’t want to ignore an important email that the tech giant recently sent to users about how a new setting will be used to train its artificially intelligent models. In fact, one privacy expert insists that people opt out of it.
What Is Google's New Search Services History?
With Google’s expanded AI capabilities, people can upload images to Google Lens, and use live audio and video recordings to ask the search engine questions. Now, Google said it plans to save the images, files, audio, and video you upload under its new “Search Services History” setting. The email to users reads in part, “Google will now save your media to your Search Services History, applying robust privacy and security protections. Like your Search Services History, your saved media is also used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models.”
The tech company said Search Services History can include your Google Search results, the places you view on Google Maps, Generative AI answers in its “AI Mode,” and recordings and transcripts from its Search Live tool.
How to Check or Change Your Setting
To find this setting, sign in to your Google account, look up your current activity settings at https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity. Check to see if your “Search Services History” setting is on or select the “Turn off” box. You can also delete certain individual activity from your history. If you don’t see this option yet, the feature has not rolled out to your Google account. The search giant said this feature is being rolled out over “the next few months,” so if your account hasn’t updated, then your history and personalized recommendations for Search Services are still controlled by “Web & App Activity.” Keep in mind that this new Search Services History setting shouldn’t automatically turn on unless you already allow Google to track your searches under its “Web & App Activity” setting. If you already opt out of tracking your web and app activity, then Google will also opt out of the “Search Services History” setting by default when it gets introduced to your account.
Privacy Expert's Advice
Calli Schroeder, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said she would advise against people using Search Services History for their privacy. “Think really hard if you’re comfortable with Google having a picture of your kid, or having a picture of you in a swimsuit that you’re trying to find the maker of,” Schroeder said, and if you’re comfortable with Google storing this information under their privacy rules. She noted that your voice and what you look like are valuable biometric information you may want to keep out of a search engine’s hands. Your search engine questions can also potentially be information that law enforcement can one day use against you, she added.
Google's Justification and Concerns
In a post about the change, the company said this saved history will help tailor your Google experience, so people can more easily recall previous searches and get personalized recommendations and ads. In its emailed notice to users, the company gave examples like using the setting to revisit your past visual searches with Lens or continue a Search Live conversation about a song you heard. But a technology company’s personalized recommendations might not always be beneficial to users. “Personalized recommendations can also include things like personalized prices [where] they’re giving you a specific price for an item that is not the same as what other people are seeing,” Schroeder said.
“This speculative commentary is inaccurate ― Search Services History is not collected for biometric purposes or to change the prices we show to users in Search,” a Google spokesperson said in response. “These new settings help users get more relevant results and revisit their searches ― including visual and voice searches ― and they can be turned on or off at any time.” But the more you let Google remember about you, the more personal your ads might get, and that can feel revealing. “People get advertisements that are specific to their location, their presumed income level, what kind of culture they may come from, and what interests they may have there,” Schroeder said. “Having these things targeted at you based on these different interests and attributes can feel very invasive and manipulative.”
How to Turn Off Personalized Recommendations
You can turn off personalized recommendations by signing in to your Google account, selecting “Data & privacy,” then Personalization settings. From there, turn off “Personalized Recommendations in Search services.” Schroeder said in general, when an algorithm personalizes your answers, it can also be too narrow in its predictions and wrong about what you would like. “You could be losing opportunities that would really benefit you based on some algorithmic whim,” Schroeder said, like which kinds of grants and scholarships or neighborhoods you might be interested in. “So I may not be seeing housing that would fit my budget in an area because the algorithm decided I don’t belong in that area,” she gave as an example.
Regularly Review Your Settings
Too many people never revisit their Google account preferences. This new feature is a reminder that it’s important to regularly check what your settings are, so you don’t share more information about your preferences than you’re comfortable with.
