If you use Gmail, you’ll want to disable this 1 automatic setting as soon as possible

Another day, another “feature” was enabled in a portable app that you’d like to disable.

For Gmail users, there’s an automatic opt-in that can give Google access to your email data (think: your personal and work messages, your attachments) “to train AI models,” cybersecurity experts say. If you do not want this information to be shared, you must adjust your settings.

Related: Gavin Newsom’s brutal new nickname for Trump is going viral, and it may be his best yet

“IMPORTANT message to everyone who uses Gmail. You have been automatically SIGNED UP to allow Gmail to access all your private messages and attachments to train AI models,” engineer Dave Jones told X earlier this week. “You have to manually turn off smart features in the Settings menu in TWO locations.”

@eevblog / Via Twitter: @eevblog

In the race for companies to get an ROI on AI, we’re already seeing language learning models without new, human-generated data to train on. And as HuffPost previously reported, tools like AI assistants that automatically take meeting notes were already seen as an opportunity to passively obtain data from users in work settings. (Even boring corporate meetings are not exempt!)

“Google uses information to improve our services and develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public. For example, we use publicly available information to help train Google AI models and build products and features such as Google Translate, Gemini Apps and Cloud AI capabilities,” according to the company’s privacy policy.

Related: 27 Photos of Donald Trump in 2025 He Probably Doesn’t Want You to See

Notably, Bloomberg reports that there is already a proposed class action against Google. According to the complaint, users allege that the company “secretly” enabled Gemini to “access and exploit the entire recorded history of its users’ private communications, including literally every email and attachment sent and received in their Gmail accounts.”

Google did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s inquiry about the process for opting users in and out of these features or the class action process. A Google spokesperson told HuffPost via email that the reports were “misleading,” noting that “Gmail Smart Features have been around for years, and we don’t use your Gmail content to train our Gemini AI model.” The spokesperson added: “We are always transparent and clear about making changes to our terms and policies.”

However, if you’d still like more control over how AI is used in your life (the Pew Research Center reports that 6 in 10 Americans share this concern), there’s good news: You can turn it off.

Read on to find out how.

Disabling Gmail’s AI training option

Related: Trump’s face while booed at Commanders game this weekend goes viral

To disable this feature, you need to open the settings and manually opt out in two different locations.

On desktop, go to your settings (the little cog in the top corner) and look under the “General” tab. There, you can do the first opt-out and deselect “Smart Features”

Related: Trump just got a message from Pope Leo that he’s sure not to like

Next, click on “Manage Workplace smart features settings” (image above) and it will take you to a secondary pop-up window that allows you to enable and disable features in Google Workspace and other Google products.

Opting out of the former will disable the “Ask Gemini” feature that summarizes content, as well as custom search and events from your email automatically added to your calendar.

The latter will give you away from features that show restaurant reservations and takeout orders in Maps, suggested tickets or loyalty cards to use in Wallet, and answers, reminders, and suggestions from Google Assistant and the Gemini app.

If you are on mobile, you can change these settings by going to the settings page (located at the bottom of the inbox menu) and selecting “Data Privacy”. From there, you can turn off “Smart Features” and click the “Google Workspace Smart Features” menu to turn off the feature again for Workspace and Google products.

An annoying part of this is that some useful Gmail features that we’ve grown accustomed to are being removed by opting out. Things like “smart compose” as well as the feature that automatically filters your emails into “promotional” and “social” inboxes, and even spell check, grammar check, and autocorrect are currently tied to the Gemini opt-in.

So as you opt out of sharing your information, you might want to consider whether you’re willing to give up some features in return. And you’ll probably need to read your emails more carefully.

But for many concerned about their privacy, it’s better than letting something else do it.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Also in the News: Donald Trump Just Blamed Another Tragedy on the ‘Radical Left’ and the Internet Isn’t Having It

Also in the News: Donald Trump Hated His Time Magazine Cover… But He’ll Probably Hate These 16 Photos Wayyyyyyyyyyyy more

Also in the news: Karoline Leavitt just made a Trump claim so ridiculous that even Republicans are saying it

Read it on BuzzFeed.com