Following news that Google had rolled out features — including an AI overview, suggested replies, a Help Me Write feature, and AI inbox filters — that would give its Gemini AI broad access to the contents of people’s inboxes by default, many people have been scrambling to disable Gemini in Gmail. Here’s how.
How to turn off Gemini in Gmail
- In your Gmail app, go to Settings.
- Select your Gmail address.
- Clear the Smart features checkbox.
- Go to Google Workspace smart features.
- Clear the checkboxes for:
- Smart features in Google Workspace
- Smart features in other Google products
If you have more Gmail accounts, repeat these steps for each one. The Workspace settings, however, apply globally across your Google Workspace (including Google Drive), so you only need to adjust those once.
If you want to be completely sure Google doesn’t re-enable or introduce new AI features that process your data, consider switching to Proton Mail, our secure email. Moving all your emails, calendars, and contacts is simple with Easy Switch.
Why is Google integrating Gemini into Gmail?
Google promises(nyt vindue) that Gmail’s 3 billion users will benefit from a “personal, proactive inbox assistant”. But given that these features are free, what’s the catch? Make no mistake, Google isn’t doing this out of generosity. The contents of your inbox are valuable to the company. Email used to be a more private space where your communications could potentially be intercepted by bad actors, but largely your data was your own. Now Google seeks to monetize that data just like it’s monetized everything else you’ve done on its platforms.
Why should you turn off Gemini AI?
While you’re able to switch off smart features, Google wants you to switch them back on. Under the guise of an easier workday and increased productivity, Gmail’s new AI inbox filters(nyt vindue) provide a suggested to-do list and collect topics it assumes you need to catch up on. By acknowledging that keeping up with the amount of correspondence and topic-switching we all need to do at work is difficult, the company assumes that it can tempt you into trading your privacy and security for convenience. But there are so many reasons to avoid Google and its AI assistant.
You can’t guarantee what Google will do with your data
While Google asserts that it won’t use your data to train its model, the company hasn’t proven to be reliable in the past. Multiple privacy-washing campaigns have seen Google attempt to claim that you have control over privacy settings and can opt out of features you’re not interested in; however, Google also knows that 95% of us don’t change the default settings(nyt vindue) on our phones and computers. In 2024, Google’s parent company Alphabet was fined nearly $2.9 billion dollars for tax evasion, monopolistic practices, failing to comply with regulators, and illegally favoring its own digital advertising services. We can’t trust Google to do something it promises not to do, which is why we don’t recommend trusting Gemini with the contents of your inbox.
Google uses your data to show you ads
The more data Google collects on you, the more targeted ads it can show you. This might seem innocuous, as you can simply opt not to click on ads, but you should be concerned that Google wants so much about you. Advertisers and third parties work with Google to target ads based on a detailed profile built up as you use Google services. This can include your location, devices, search history, personal information like your address, age, and gender — and potentially, your emails. You can switch off personalized ads(nyt vindue) but you can’t stop Google watching what you do when you use its apps.
Your data may be shared beyond Google
If you use Gemini either within or outside of Gmail, your data can be shared with third-party services. Add-ons and extensions can connect Gemini to other services such as WhatsApp and Spotify, allowing those companies to process your data under their own privacy policies. When you lose control of your data, it’s much harder to understand what it may be being used for.
Use AI that gives you control of your data
There’s a reason the usage of AI-powered assistants and chatbots has grown so exponentially: they can be incredibly helpful. The demands of modern work and life can be difficult to manage, and the right tools make all the difference. But Big Tech like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI tend to treat your data as a business asset. And AI tools are an especially effective way to get data about your personal life, your work life, your health, and your financial records — the kind of information that can be analyzed, packaged, and monetized.
If you use Google’s email service and care about how your message contents may be used by AI, start by turning off Gemini in Gmail. And if you’re ready to deGoogle, consider switching to Proton’s end-to-end encrypted suite of apps designed to protect the privacy of your data — not exploit it.
With Proton Mail, emails are end-to-end encrypted when you’re messaging other Proton users, and you can password-protect emails when writing to people outside Proton, like Gmail users. Either way, Proton can’t access the contents of your messages.
If you need help rewriting or fine-tuning an email, Proton Scribe (an opt-in add-on to Proton Mail) offers AI-powered writing assistance that never trains on your data. For broader tasks, you can use Lumo, our private AI assistant(nyt vindue) designed to help you without keeping logs of your conversations or turning your personal information into training material.
As Big Tech continues to attempt a new hijack of your data and your privacy by offering you AI tools that exploit you, you have the choice to reject them.
