Google has been building some of the world's best AI using text scraped from the open web. That source is running thin. So now it is turning to something richer: the real-world photos, voice clips, and audio recordings that hundreds of millions of people generate every day just by using its apps.
The vehicle for this is a new setting called Search Services History. For most users it arrived already switched on. Google says the setting carries over from whatever your previous Web and App Activity preference was, so if that was on, this is on too. The announcement came through a customer email in June, but many people missed it or did not understand what it meant.
Here is what is being collected when the setting is active. Every photo you send through Google Lens for a visual search. Every voice query you make in the Google app. Audio recordings from Translate speaking practice. Transcripts from Search Live sessions. Images you upload into AI Mode or the virtual try-on tool in Shopping. Your past searches, your general location, and information from the websites you visit through Search. It is a wide net.
The part that demands attention: once any of that media has been pulled into AI training, Google holds that training data for up to four years, disconnected from your account, even if you delete the original activity. Opting out today stops future collection, but it does not undo what has already been used.
There is a practical trap here too. Before this change, people who had turned off Web and App Activity thought they were also opting out of Search data collection. That is no longer true. The new Search Services History is a separate toggle. Turning off one does not turn off the other. If you made that change years ago and never went back, you may still be opted in.
For anyone who uses a personal Google account for any work-related tasks, this matters more than it might seem. A photo of a whiteboard from a client meeting run through Lens, a voice query about a supplier, a document run through Translate: all of it falls under this setting by default.
Google says it disconnects the data from your account before human reviewers or AI systems see it, and that it runs filters to remove identifying information. It will also ask for permission before sharing media specifically for human review as part of model improvement. These are genuine safeguards, but they are also partly self-reported.
The regulatory picture is shifting in ways that may or may not help. In the EU, GDPR has historically required a clear legal basis for this kind of processing. But the European Commission's proposed Digital Omnibus package, introduced in late 2025, would allow companies to cite their own "legitimate interest" as justification for AI training on user data, making opt-out the norm rather than opt-in. Privacy groups have pushed back hard, and the proposal is still working through the process. In the US, no equivalent federal standard exists at all, so the burden sits entirely with the user.
To opt out: go to your Google Account, click Data and Privacy, then Personalization Settings, and find Search Services History. Uncheck Save Media to stop image and audio collection while keeping search history, or turn off the full setting. Then separately check Personalized Recommendations, which is a second switch controlling whether Google tailors your results. The two are not linked. If Search Services History is not yet visible in your account, go to Web and App Activity and uncheck Include Voice and Audio Activity and Include Visual Search History as a stopgap, then check back weekly.