Google's Gemini artificial intelligence has been caught scanning PDF files hosted on Google Drive without permission or active initiation, sparking yet another discussion around AI security and privacy concerns.
Senior Advisor on AI Governance Kevin Bankson I turned to X to share my concerns about an automatically generated AI summary of a private and confidential tax return.
Bankston's thread detailed his experience with Gemini AI reading private documents without consent and the subsequent issues with disabling the functionality on the cloud storage platform.
Gemini might be more buried in Google Drive than you thought
Despite attempts to disable the feature, Bankston found that Gemini continued to run on Google Drive, raising questions about Google's handling of user data and privacy settings.
After failing to find the proper controls to disable the Gemini integration, the advisor asked Google’s rival AI chatbot ChatGPT twice to point out the settings. A second, more detailed response also brought no joy: “Gemini is *not* under Apps & Services in my dashboard (first option), and I didn’t have a profile picture in the top right corner of the Gemini page (second).”
With the help of another X user, Bankston found the control, which was already disabled, indicating that either the control is malfunctioning or there are other settings hidden elsewhere.
TechRadar Pro has asked Google for comment on the case, but the company did not immediately respond.
Previous Google documentation has confirmed that the company will not use Google Workspace data to train or improve its generative AI services or to serve targeted ads, however, there are still some concerns about data hygiene and cross-contamination that could ultimately lead to a data breach.
Bankston theorizes that his previous involvement with Google Workspace Labs may have influenced Gemini's behavior, but his concerns about hidden settings and controls remain an issue Google needs to address to satisfy concerned users.
Furthermore, the case reaffirms the importance of user consent and control as AI continues to advance and become increasingly embedded in the products we use every day.
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