Lori Greiner, the American TV personality and entrepreneur best known for her appearances on Shark Tank, has issued an urgent warning to Gmail users about artificial intelligence scanning their emails. In an Instagram post over the weekend, she urged followers to take immediate action to protect their privacy.
Greiner claimed that Google has been allowing AI to scan every email, including financial documents, tax information, and personal conversations, without users' explicit knowledge. She advised users to switch off smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet to prevent this scanning. The process, she said, takes just 30 seconds.
Google has responded to the concerns, stating that it does not train its foundational AI models, including Gemini, on personal emails. The company emphasised that any access granted to Gemini in Gmail is for isolated tasks, such as summarising a lengthy email, and that the data is not retained. Google insists that user inboxes remain private.
Despite Google's assurances, Greiner's warning has resonated with many users who are uneasy about AI involvement in their personal communications. To opt out, users can navigate to their Google Account settings, turn off smart features, and manage Workspace smart features to restrict data usage for AI.
The advice comes amid growing public scrutiny over data privacy and the use of AI by tech giants. While Google maintains that its practices are secure, the option to disable these features remains available for those who prefer not to have their emails processed by AI.
