This is the script of my national radio report yesterday on how #Google is pushing their Gemini #AI onto user devices -- and more -- in invasive ways, without asking permission or sometimes even informing users that this has occurred. As always my report may have had some minor wording variations from this script as it was presented live on air.
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Well, I wish I could really explain what's going on with Google and their Gemini AI, but frankly, the whole situation is so confusing, that all I can really do is kinda give a heads-up warning here and suggest that if you care about this matter you pay very close attention to what's happening with your interactions with Google on the desktop, on Android devices, and ultimately I expect on other devices too including iOS devices like iPhones, and probably Windows also at some point.
We've talked in the past about how Big Tech is ramming AI down our throats whether we want it or not, and how upsetting this is to so many people, and now Google has really jumped the shark as the saying goes. They seem to have given up any pretense of asking for permission before turning users into data delivery systems to feed the voracious appetite of their Gemini AI.
Basically, Google is in the process of pushing Gemini into pretty much everything that Google can control. Some classes of Gmail already have it in place to do "summarizations" of Gmail messages, however inaccurate we can expect those to often be given Gemini's record of spewing misinformation. Apparently the only way to turn that off may be to turn off all Gmail Smart Features through the Gmail settings and even then I don't know if that just hides the interface or actually stops Gemini from reading your email. Obviously in order to flag spam and malware, for example, Gmail has long needed to scan email, but Gemini is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish, and understanding whether or not any given generative AI connected application is or is not training on your data isn't necessarily simple to figure out or control.
Google has already replaced the traditional Google Assistant with Gemini on many devices, and that means you lose traditional Assistant's telling you where it got its answers from, and in fact Gemini apparently has been breaking many users' routines because it currently can't accomplish every action that traditional Assistant can. For now you can switch back if you can find the Assistant setting deep within the Google settings on your device, but this seems to often vary from device to device, so trying to do that can be a new hobby.
Google has now decided they want to pull data from various of the apps on your phone into Gemini and while some users received a very confusing email about this, actually it seems to have begun without any affirmative permission being asked of users. You can dig around in app settings and try to disable this, and you sometimes can remove the Gemini app from your phone if Google or you installed it from the Google app store -- the Play Store -- but sometimes it can't be easily removed and even after being removed the related settings may persist. And we can be sure that traditional Assistant will be terminated fairly soon, and in fact I believe later this year Google is terminating that Assistant on all Google Home devices as well.
And that's about all I have on this right now, because the entire situation is a confused train wreck and with so many variations between devices it's just impossible to get very specific regarding solutions.
If you're happy with the Gemini AI integrations then you don't really need to do anything except enjoy them, But if that's not your feeling -- and it certainly isn't mine -- we can be excused I think for wondering if Google is making this so confusing on purpose or if it's just a terrible consequence of their panicky push to get AI into everything, and not be left behind the other Big Tech firms who are trying to do much the same thing.
Google used to generally be pretty good about asking permission from users before making changes that might be considered controversial. But that was the old Google, not today's Google where it's all about AI and if you don't want their AI in many aspects of your life, you're just a user who they consider to be a loser -- and that's very sad.
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