TechCrunch: “Consider this a belated PSA: A recent change to Google’s privacy settings is allowing the company to store more of your data, including media such as “images, files, and audio and video recordings,” to improve its AI models. In other words, if you upload any media to Google’s Search services, it’s being used to train AI unless you opt out. The change came about via an under-the-radar update to Google’s Search services privacy settings, announced in June via a customer email. With the update, the company essentially opted people into this expanded AI training under the guise of giving users more control over their saved history and personalized recommendations…The update introduced two new settings, Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations, allowing you to configure how your activity is used to personalize your Google experience and how long your web and app activity is saved. This update applies beyond Google Search itself, and also includes other search services such as Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News. For instance, when you use Google Lens to search for something visually by snapping a photo, that image may now be saved for AI training. Similarly, if you use the newer Search Live feature to search via voice input in the Google app, those audio recordings could be saved, as can any other Google voice search. If you use Google Translate to practice speaking, that audio is saved, too…”