Australian electronics design engineer Dave Jones explained that the accounts of all Gmail users were automatically selected to allow Google to scan messages and attachments with the aim of training its artificial intelligence models, such as Gemini, without obtaining explicit and direct consent from the users.

He pointed out that this feature was activated secretly in October 2025, which means that personal and work messages may be read and used without their owners’ knowledge, which sparked a wide wave of controversy and criticism.

This has already led to a class-action lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of activating a hidden setting in Gmail that allows users’ message history to be secretly exploited for purposes related to artificial intelligence.

Jones said, in a post on the “X” platform, that users must manually turn off “smart features” through the account settings, stressing that the disabling process requires modifying two different options.

For Gmail desktop users, you must go to “View all settings” and then disable the “Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet” option under the “Smart Features” section, before going to “Manage smart feature settings in the workspace” and revoking permissions there.

However, the Daily Mail revealed that disabling data sharing leads to automatically disabling the classification of messages, and removing the “Promotions,” “Social Media,” and “Updates” tabs, which turns the inbox into an unorganized list of messages.

The newspaper pointed out that reorganizing e-mail can only be done by reactivating smart features and allowing Google’s artificial intelligence to access the data, which has raised the dissatisfaction of a number of users.

Gmail smartphone users can disable “Smart Features” by going to “Settings,” then “Data Privacy,” turning off the “Smart Features & Personalization” option, in addition to disabling “Google Workspace” settings.

Disabling these features results in the loss of some functionality, such as auto-completion, spell checking, and adding appointments to the calendar, but they can be reactivated at any time.

A Gmail user expressed his anger on the “X” platform, saying: “This decision completely disables inbox classifications. Why is Google making things complicated?”

The impact of this policy is not limited to computer users, but also includes users of the Gmail application on Android and iOS phones, as all accounts are affected as long as the user is logged in.

The biggest risk is the threat to users’ privacy, as emails may include financial data, health records, and sensitive personal information, raising fears of their being misused or hacked.

Google confirms, according to its privacy policy, that it uses the data “to improve services and develop new products and technologies that benefit users,” stressing that it does not use Gmail content directly to train the Gemini system.

However, critics believe that the consent option itself raises questions about the level of data protection, especially in light of the complexity of privacy settings.

Source: Daily Mail