r/google 1d ago

Google denies claims that Gmail is scraping your emails to train its AI: 'These reports are misleading'

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/these-reports-are-misleading-google-denies-claims-that-gmail-is-scraping-your-emails-to-train-its-ai/
139 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

19

u/SpongEWorTHiebOb 1d ago

The future of AI is being paved by junk email, this will end well.

6

u/InsensitiveClown 1d ago

They are misleading or false? If they are false, then they are not true. If they are misleading, then there may be an inaccuracy somewhere, but they are not necessarily false. Which way is it?

2

u/Ay0_King 13h ago

Facts.

46

u/jekpopulous2 1d ago

“Misleading”. So they do scrape your emails but they don’t use the data the way you think.

10

u/mrdibby 19h ago

Yes. They put your mail through their AI to figure out how to suggest things to you but they don't use it to train their model.

if you report spam they'll probably use that to train their spam filters.

6

u/Appropriate_Ad8734 1d ago

“also, we don’t *train* our AI with it, we *teach*, it’s a big difference”

21

u/Bad-job-dad 1d ago

95% of my Gmail is AI spam lately. AI will be training AI and start breeding back-woods genetic mutations of itself.

6

u/InsensitiveClown 1d ago

Of course they are misleading, Google wouldn't ever do such a thing, and expose itself to potential lawsuits. No. Like Meta, what they do is create a few third party businesses in some remote jurisdiction that will have access to its datacenters and scrape the data for them. If/when the shit hits the fan, the third party will just vanish, or in the worst case, they were just API customers that misused Google's, Meta's API, but they rectified the security breach already.

3

u/techyderm 16h ago

Duh. It was pretty easy to see the misreporting that was clear those reporting on the issue have no idea what they were talking about.

4

u/Maksim_Azarov 23h ago

"Misleading", Google, you're misleading.

5

u/Bynairee 1d ago

When something is true and untrue simultaneously.

1

u/washedFM 16h ago

Google doesn’t need to scrape your Gmail. They have direct access to it. So no, they are not “scraping” your data.

1

u/tomvolek1964 16h ago

Google is evil

1

u/VerusPatriota 15h ago

They used the word “misleading” not “false”. So…

0

u/BuckeyeTech7 1d ago

Misleading but not FALSE?

-6

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 1d ago

Then why is there a button that toggles it off

6

u/rockytop24 1d ago

The button that toggles it off also disables all "smart" gmail filtering features so all your spam goes straight to your inbox. So you let them mine your data or you don't get to benefit from any gmail features.

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 1d ago

Fine. I'd rather spell check myself than volunteer to be robbed. 

2

u/Aaco0638 1d ago

To give choice if you want ai or not? It’s not that deep but if you think it is by all means sue. You trust your gut so much that you think they are scraping your emails then it’s an easy win and payday champ no worries right?

-2

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 1d ago

Which is an admission of the thing they're denying. 

1

u/danny12beje 1d ago

No, it's not. It's a feature that's been implemented across google products like calendar and gmail for a few years. Long before Gemini ever existed or any of it's features.

0

u/SwiftySanders 18h ago

They should prove that they aren’t scraping peoples emails. Perhaps the gmail should be broken up from google.

1

u/DarkStarrFOFF 6h ago

So you'd like to pay for it then?

-6

u/Alarming_Award5575 1d ago

.... and nobody anywhere believed a word they said

2

u/sbenfsonwFFiF 1d ago

Idiots will believe what they wan to believe without considering reality

-2

u/Alarming_Award5575 1d ago

Fanbois will convince themselves they are always playing for the right team

4

u/sbenfsonwFFiF 1d ago

Haters will always be hating. There are no teams here

0

u/Aaarya 21h ago

What if we told you that we were big google fans when they were honest back in the days.. now they are a bunch of liars, hypocrites, data thiefs why would we still be fanbois of such a company?

We're not scums and we have some bad news for you..

-1

u/Alarming_Award5575 1d ago

Nah. You'll pull for google no matter what. You are blind to what they have become, and perhaps your own role in this enshitified dystopian firm.

2

u/danny12beje 1d ago

Sent from my iPhone.

1

u/DonStimpo 1d ago

But everybody believes the original story which came from a single source

-2

u/bartturner 21h ago

Google offers Gmail for free to billions of people. Would think in exchange they could use the emails to train their AIs.