https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-says-gmail-doesnt-use-emails-to-train-ai/

Google Says Gmail Doesn’t Use Your Emails to Train Its AI, After All
Your Gmail messages are safe from AI, for now, at least.

After a panic-infused claim on Thursday, November 20, that Google uses people’s Gmail messages to train its Gemini AI went viral, Google is on defense and speaking to the media to correct the record.

Google has pushed back on the claim, explaining that the concern over Gmail’s “Smart Features” is misunderstood and that no Gmail users’ emails are used to train Google’s Gemini AI. The site that made the original claim has retracted its claim, too, admitting that their original interpretation was misguided.

The uproar originated with a Malwarebytes story on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The response from Google was swift, but not swift enough to prevent the claim from making the rounds online. A day is a digital eternity.

Google spokesperson Jenny Thomson told The Verge on November 21, 2025, “These reports are misleading—we have not changed anyone’s settings, Gmail Smart Features have existed for many years, and we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”