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Gemini AI platform caught scanning Google Drive files without user permission

July 15, 2024
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Google’s Gemini AI has been caught scanning PDF files hosted on Google Drive without active permission or initiation, sparking yet another discussion around AI safety and privacy concerns.

Senior Advisor on AI Governance Kevin Bankson took to X to share concerns over an automatically generated AI summary in a private and confidential tax return.

Bankston’s thread detailed his experience with Gemini AI reading private documents without consent and the subsequent troubles in 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’s continued to operate in Google Drive, raising questions about Google’s handling of user data and privacy settings.

After failing to find the right controls to disable Gemini’s integration, the Advisor asked Google’s ChatGPT-rivalling AI chatbot on two occasions to pinpoint the settings. A second, more detailed response still brought no joy: “Gemini is *not* in Apps and services on my dashboard  (1st option), and I didn't have a profile pic in the upper right of the Gemini page (2nd).”

With help from another X user, Bankston found the control, which was already disabled, highlighting either a malfunctioning control or indicating that further settings are hidden elsewhere.

TechRadar Pro has asked Google to 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 feed targeted ads, however there are still some concerns about data hygiene and cross-contamination that could ultimately lead to leaked data.

Bankston theorizes that his previous participation in Google Workspace Labs might have influenced Gemini’s behavior, but his concern about hidden settings and controls remains a topic that Google must address in order to satisfy worried users.

Moreover, the case reaffirms the importance of consent and user control as AI continues to advance and becomes more deeply ingrained in the products we use every day.

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