A quick Google Lens search or voice query may now come with a bigger privacy tradeoff.
Google has updated its Search services settings so that saved media such as images, files, audio, and video from user interactions may be used to improve Google’s AI models and technologies unless users opt out. The uncomfortable part is how ordinary those uploads can be: a work screenshot, a translated document, a product photo, or a voice query that was never meant to become AI training material.
For businesses, the issue is not only what Google changed. It is how easily employees can move sensitive information into consumer search tools while trying to solve a routine problem.
What Google now saves
In a support document, Google said that Search services include Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News. The company also adds that the new settings are “rolling out gradually over the next few months”, and users who do not see the updated controls are still managed through Web & App Activity.
Google’s support page noted that saved media includes “your images, files, audio and video from your interactions with Search services.” That can include Google Lens images, Search Live recordings, Translate speaking practice, uploaded content, and voice searches.
With this update, Google aims to use saved media to develop and improve Google’s AI models and technologies, as well as the Google services that use them.
“This helps us deliver safer and more accurate results and build better services for everyone,” according to Google.
According to TechCrunch, Google introduced the change via an update to its Search services’ privacy settings, announced in a June customer email. The update created two settings: Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations.
Engadget also reported that the change applies to media uploaded to Search-related products, including images, files, audio, and video recordings. The report noted that personal Google Photos are not included in this change for now.
How users can turn it off
In line with the update, Google reiterates its commitment to privacy, stating that it is working on measures to protect users’ data.
“We are constantly working to improve our filtering and safety systems to better protect your privacy,” the tech giant stated.
Users who wish to opt out of having their media saved can turn off the Saved Media setting by going to My Google Activity, selecting Search Services History, and unchecking the Save Media sub-setting. This would stop media interactions with Search services from being saved to Search Services History.
The opt-out is not the same as a cleanup. According to Google, turning off Save Media does not delete previously saved media, which “may continue to be used to improve Google technologies unless you delete it from your account.”
Google added that the setting does not affect media saved and managed by other Google services, including Gemini Apps, Google Voice, NotebookLM, and YouTube. Media generated or modified with AI is also not covered by the Save Media subsetting.
That makes the setting easy to misunderstand. A user may turn off one Google activity control and assume the job is done, while other Google products or previously saved media still need separate attention.
More must-read AI coverage
How routine searches can expose work data
The risk is not a single Lens search. It is the habit of using search tools as quick problem-solvers throughout the workday.
An employee might upload a customer invoice to translate a line of text, search for a screenshot that shows internal system details, or use voice search while discussing a client issue. Each action may feel harmless at the moment, but it can still involve information the company would not want stored in a consumer account history.
Google Lens, Translate, and voice search are useful because they remove friction from small tasks, especially on mobile devices or across languages. The problem is that those small tasks can involve work data, and employees may not treat a search upload with the same caution as a file shared in a cloud drive.
IT teams should review managed Google account settings, update acceptable-use guidance, and remind employees not to upload confidential files, recordings, screenshots, customer information, or regulated data into Search services unless that use has been approved.
The issue also points to a larger shift in AI data collection.
Training data can come from routine product use, not just public web pages, so privacy settings now need the same level of scrutiny as app permissions, browser extensions, and cloud-sharing rules.
Also read: Google previously faced a Gmail lawsuit over hidden AI training settings, showing how confusing opt-out controls can turn routine Google use into a privacy concern.
Read the full article here
