Google is Quietly Letting Gmail Read Your Emails for AI Training — Unless You Opt Out

Google has started rolling out a controversial change to Gmail, and many users may not even realize it’s happening. Not going to lie, even I was unaware until I came across a report from Malwarebytes. The company is now allowing Gmail to analyze your emails and attachments to train its AI models — and in many cases, users are being opted in automatically.

The change was first spotted by Dave Jones on X, where screenshots show Gmail’s AI-related settings enabled without user’s consent. Apparently, the change is integrated into Google’s ongoing push to power Gmail’s new Gemini-based features, including smarter writing suggestions, improved organization tools, and predictive text. Per the report, those features are trained using real user content. In other words, your conversations and files may now be part of the dataset, unless you manually disable the feature.

Google says it uses privacy safeguards such as anonymization and secure handling. But for anyone who deals with confidential messages, legal documents, work communications, or sensitive personal data, the idea of inbox-level AI training is definitely concerning.

How to opt out

If you don’t want Google to allow Gmail to read your stuff for AI training, you’ll have disable two separate settings within Gmail:

Disable Smart Features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet

1. Open Gmail > Settings > See all settings
2. Scroll to Smart features
3. Uncheck the setting
4. Save changes

Disable Google Workspace Smart Features

1. Under Settings, open Manage Workspace smart features
2. Turn off both available toggles
3. Save again

Finally, refresh Gmail to confirm the changes. Do note that both switches must be disabled to fully stop AI training on your account. Google appears to be rolling out the change gradually, so not every account will show the toggle enabled yet. But if you value inbox privacy, now is the time to double-check.