How to Opt Out of Google Search’s New AI Data Training Feature
How to Opt Out of Google Search’s New AI Data Training Feature
如何关闭谷歌搜索的 AI 数据训练功能
A little piece of my soul shrivels up every time I get a message laying out how another company plans to use personal data in ever encroaching ways for AI training. I got one of those emails recently from Google, with the subject line: “New privacy settings for Search services.” It’s part of Google’s global rollout happening over the next few months that will change how it handles users’ Search history data.
每当我收到关于某家公司计划如何以不断侵入的方式使用个人数据进行 AI 训练的通知时，我的内心都会感到一阵沮丧。最近我收到了谷歌发来的一封邮件，主题是：“搜索服务的新隐私设置”。这是谷歌未来几个月在全球范围内推广计划的一部分，该计划将改变其处理用户搜索历史数据的方式。
Every piece of media, from photos you upload for reverse image searches to audio of you speaking with Google Translate, may be retained in your account and used to improve Google’s AI models.
每一份媒体内容，从你上传用于反向图片搜索的照片，到你使用谷歌翻译时的语音，都可能被保留在你的账户中，并用于改进谷歌的 AI 模型。
This new option in Google’s account settings, called Search Services History, was already enabled when I visited the page for the first time. (If a user previously disabled Google’s Web & App Activity and Search Personalization toggles, then it would be off.) Also, the box to save all my uploaded media from Google Search for AI training was already checked. Great.
谷歌账户设置中的这个新选项名为“搜索服务历史记录”（Search Services History），当我第一次访问该页面时，它就已经处于开启状态。（如果用户之前关闭了谷歌的“网络与应用活动记录”和“搜索个性化”开关，那么该选项则会处于关闭状态。）此外，用于将我从谷歌搜索上传的所有媒体保存以进行 AI 训练的复选框也已经被勾选了。真棒。
When this rolls out to your account, you can visit Google’s My Activity page and then select the Search Services History tab to opt out. This page gives you a solid sense of what Google saves from your Search history. It’s also where you can turn off the entire setting and delete your activity. It’s critical to uncheck the box next to Save media if you don’t want your image uploads used for AI training.
当此功能在你的账户中上线后，你可以访问谷歌的“我的活动”（My Activity）页面，然后选择“搜索服务历史记录”选项卡进行退出。该页面让你能清楚地了解谷歌从你的搜索历史中保存了哪些内容。你也可以在此处关闭整个设置并删除你的活动记录。如果你不希望自己上传的图片被用于 AI 训练，务必取消勾选“保存媒体”（Save media）旁边的复选框。
It’s worth doing this change now rather than later. There’s not much you can do after your media data is thrown into the AI blender. “If your saved media is used to train our AI models, it is disconnected from your Google Account. This training data will be kept for up to 4 years, even if you delete the original activity,” read the pop-up when I turned off this feature. That’s such a long time for my random image Search uploads to float around in the digital ether.
现在就进行此项更改比以后再做要好。一旦你的媒体数据被投入到 AI 的“搅拌机”中，你就无能为力了。当我关闭此功能时，弹窗显示：“如果你的已保存媒体被用于训练我们的 AI 模型，它将与你的谷歌账户断开连接。即使你删除了原始活动，这些训练数据仍将被保留长达 4 年。”对于我随意上传的搜索图片来说，在数字世界中漂浮这么久的时间实在太长了。
“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,” says Davis Thompson, a Google spokesperson, over email when reached for comment. He did not answer WIRED’s question about this feature being on by default.
谷歌发言人戴维斯·汤普森（Davis Thompson）在回复邮件置评时表示：“这些新设置有助于用户获得更相关的结果并回顾他们的搜索记录——包括视觉和语音搜索——并且可以随时开启或关闭。”但他没有回答《连线》（WIRED）关于该功能为何默认开启的问题。
What’s really being saved here? Google is clear that it’s starting to store much more than just what you type into Search. “Your saved media includes your images, files, and audio and video recordings from your interactions with Search services,” reads the page’s description. “This includes things like Google Lens images, recordings from Search Live or Translate speaking practice, content you upload, and voice searches.”
这里到底保存了什么？谷歌明确表示，它开始存储的内容远不止你在搜索框中输入的内容。页面描述写道：“你保存的媒体包括你在与搜索服务交互时的图片、文件以及音频和视频录制内容。这包括谷歌镜头（Google Lens）图片、搜索实时（Search Live）或翻译口语练习的录音、你上传的内容以及语音搜索。”
This is because AI models don’t just need text data to improve; they need diverse inputs in other forms, like audio or video. If Google can gather more data, and more types of data, from its vast array of users, then maybe it could innovate faster than its competitors.
这是因为 AI 模型不仅需要文本数据来改进，还需要其他形式的多样化输入，例如音频或视频。如果谷歌能从其庞大的用户群中收集更多、更多类型的数据，那么它或许就能比竞争对手更快地进行创新。
Google’s massive user base is spread across multiple services, giving it an edge in data collection. “Google is in a unique spot compared to a lot of the other companies with this,” says Thorin Klosowski, a senior security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Because they offer so many services that people have been using for so long and have grown pretty comfortable and complacent with the amount of data collected.” Apps that people use every day have a kind of built-in inertia, so changes that users don’t like may not be enough to drive them to alternative services.
谷歌庞大的用户群分布在多种服务中，这使其在数据收集方面具有优势。电子前沿基金会（Electronic Frontier Foundation）的高级安全与隐私活动家索林·克洛索夫斯基（Thorin Klosowski）表示：“与其他许多公司相比，谷歌在这一点上处于独特的地位。因为它提供了太多人们长期使用且已经习惯的服务，人们对所收集的数据量也变得相当安于现状。”人们每天使用的应用程序具有一种内在的惯性，因此用户不喜欢的变化可能不足以促使他们转向替代服务。
Being forced to opt out of AI training seems to be the standard across sites and platforms. It doesn’t have to be this way. “I think ‘opt in’ is really asking the bare minimum of these companies,” Klosowski says. “Asking their users to consciously choose to enable these features is the least they can do.” Google would have to make a stronger case to users on why these features could be helpful if they weren’t automatically just turned on, Klosowski says.
被迫手动退出 AI 训练似乎已成为各大网站和平台的标准做法。其实不必如此。克洛索夫斯基说：“我认为‘选择加入’（opt in）是对这些公司最基本的要求。要求用户有意识地选择开启这些功能，是他们至少应该做到的。”克洛索夫斯基认为，如果这些功能不是默认开启的，谷歌就必须向用户提供更有力的理由，说明这些功能为何有用。
In Google’s email sent to my testing account on June 23, the first sentence framed this change as giving me “even more control over saved history.” Google then provided examples in the message showing how saving this media may be helpful. “For example, this lets you revisit your past visual searches with Lens or continue a Search Live conversation about a song you heard.” In contrast, it’s notable that Google didn’t provide similar examples after stating near the end of the email that this saved media will be used for AI model training. Rather, the message just continued to the next detail.
在谷歌 6 月 23 日发送给我测试账户的邮件中，第一句话将此项更改描述为让我“对保存的历史记录拥有更多控制权”。随后，谷歌在邮件中提供了示例，说明保存这些媒体可能有何帮助。“例如，这让你能够通过 Lens 回顾过去的视觉搜索，或者继续关于你听到的一首歌的搜索实时对话。”相比之下，值得注意的是，在邮件末尾提到这些保存的媒体将用于 AI 模型训练后，谷歌并没有提供类似的示例。相反，邮件只是直接跳到了下一个细节。
This is another major software change that is worth slowing down to process the change for everyday users. “It creates this extra layer of math that a consumer has to do about whether they feel comfortable using the tool they’ve been using for a long time,” says Ben Winters, director of AI and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America.
这是又一项重大的软件变更，普通用户值得放慢脚步来消化这一变化。美国消费者联合会（Consumer Federation of America）AI 与隐私部门主任本·温特斯（Ben Winters）表示：“这给消费者增加了一层额外的考量，他们必须权衡自己是否还愿意继续使用长期以来一直使用的工具。”
I’m constantly overwhelmed that it’s always on me to opt out of data training for every service. It leaves me feeling like a schmuck who’s probably going to miss something buried in all these settings, no matter what.
我总是感到不知所措，因为我必须不断地手动退出每一项服务的数据训练。这让我觉得自己像个傻瓜，无论如何，总会错过隐藏在这些设置中的某些东西。
Winters sees this change from Google as placing the onus on users to avoid AI training, which may contribute to widespread user exhaustion bordering on nihilism. “There’s an increasing feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness about even trying to protect your data, because every little thing is going to be squeezed out of you,” he says.
温特斯认为，谷歌的这一改变将避免 AI 训练的责任推给了用户，这可能会导致普遍的用户疲劳，甚至接近虚无主义。他说：“人们对于保护自己的数据感到越来越无力和绝望，因为你的一点一滴都将被榨取殆尽。”