Google to save more of your search data for AI training: Here’s how to opt out

Google’s move to gather data beyond text inputs is significant given that AI models need diverse data in the form of audio or video to improve accuracy and performance.

Google, which dominates the multi-billion-dollar online advertising market, said Google Search ads help small businesses to compete with the biggest brands and keep ⁠the web free ⁠for everyone. (Image: Reuters)

By: Tech Desk

4 min readNew DelhiJun 26, 2026 09:26 AM IST First published on: Jun 25, 2026 at 01:55 PM IST

Google is making some big changes to how it handles users’ Search history data, allowing a wider range of media uploaded by users to be retained and potentially used to train and improve its AI models. The saved media for AI training purposes could include photos uploaded for reverse image searches, audio of users speaking with Google Translate, and more.

The search giant is looking to store much more than what users type into Search. “Your saved media includes your images, files, and audio and video recordings from your interactions with Search services,” read a Google support page. “This includes things like Google Lens images, recordings from Search Live or Translate speaking practice, content you upload, and voice searches,” it added.

However, users can opt out of Google’s new search data handling practices, which are expected to take place globally over the next few months.

Upon visiting Settings on your Google account, you are likely to see a pop-up that reads: “Search services have new settings to manage history and personalized recommendations that reflect your prior Web & App Activity preferences. Media (like your images and audio) from your interactions will now also be saved in your history. You can make changes to your settings any time.”

Google Account settings also has a new option called Search Services History which is likely to be enabled by default. Users who have previously disabled Google’s Web & App Activity and Search Personalization toggles may not be shown this tab.

(Screenshot: Google Account)

Google’s move to gather data beyond text inputs is significant given that AI models need diverse data in the form of audio or video to improve accuracy and performance. Amid the fiercely competitive AI race, Google is widely regarded as having an edge over rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic in terms of data collection since it has a massive user base spread across multiple services.

It comes at a time when gathering ]data for AI training is increasingly common across various sites and platforms, with users typically being opted into AI training by default. Even if there is a choice to opt out of AI training, experts have argued that it places the burden on users to prevent their data from being used for AI training purposes. The mounting user exhaustion could further contribute to a fatalistic attitude toward online privacy.

“These new settings help users get more relevant results and revisit their searches—including visual and voice searches—and they can be turned on or off at any time,” Davis Thompson, a Google spokesperson, was quoted as saying by Wired.

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It is still unclear if the new settings are turned on by default for all users. Google has said that saved media used to train its AI models will be “disconnected” from users’ Google Accounts. It also mentioned that the training data will be retained for up to four years, even if users delete the original activity.

How to opt out of AI training

(Screenshot: Google Account)

If the new setting have been rolled out to your Google Account, follow these steps:

– Visit Google’s My Activity page
– Select the Search Services History tab
– Uncheck the box next to Save media if you do not want your image uploads and other data to be used for AI training by Google.