Updated Google privacy policy says your Gmail might be used for advertising

Using Google’s products and services has always been fundamentally precarious—doing so gives the world’s largest advertising company a lot of juicy personal data. Google has long said it won’t use the sensitive data from products like Gmail, Drive, and Photos for ad personalization, but a change to the company’s privacy policy appears to dismantle that firewall.

使用谷歌的产品和服务一直以来都存在根本性的不确定性——这样做会让这家全球最大的广告公司获取大量诱人的个人数据。谷歌长期以来一直声称不会将 Gmail、云端硬盘 (Drive) 和相册 (Photos) 等产品中的敏感数据用于广告个性化，但该公司隐私政策的一项变更似乎拆除了这道防火墙。

On October 16, Google issued an update to its privacy policy, spotted by Android Authority. The ad personalization section used to include a clear limit on data from certain apps. “We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos,” the document said. Now, Google has updated it with the following language.

10月16日，谷歌发布了隐私政策更新，该更新被 Android Authority 发现。其广告个性化部分过去曾明确限制了来自特定应用的数据使用。该文件曾写道：“我们不会根据您在云端硬盘、Gmail 或相册中的内容向您展示个性化广告。”现在，谷歌已将其更新为以下措辞。

This equivocation opens the door to using data from apps like Gmail and Photos in ads when it’s shared with other Google services, and it just so happens Google has a mechanism for doing that, with Personal Intelligence. The company released Personal Intelligence in early 2026, allowing users to hand data from multiple apps to Google AI products.

这种模棱两可的措辞为在与其他谷歌服务共享时，将 Gmail 和相册等应用中的数据用于广告打开了大门，而谷歌恰好拥有一个实现此功能的机制，即“个人智能”(Personal Intelligence)。该公司于2026年初发布了“个人智能”，允许用户将来自多个应用的数据提供给谷歌人工智能产品。

The idea is that the added context from your existing data will lead to better AI answers, but it’s also proving to be a privacy minefield. Personal Intelligence connects your data to the Gemini app but also to features like AI Mode search. While the Gemini app does not currently have ads, you may see sponsored content in AI search tools.

其理念是，通过现有数据增加的上下文信息将带来更好的人工智能回答，但这也被证明是一个隐私雷区。“个人智能”不仅将您的数据连接到 Gemini 应用，还连接到了 AI 模式搜索等功能。虽然 Gemini 应用目前没有广告，但您可能会在人工智能搜索工具中看到赞助内容。

Google’s changes to the privacy policy appear to acknowledge that data shared with AI search via Personal Intelligence could, therefore, contribute to ad personalization. According to Google, this clarification still doesn’t mean ads are “based directly” on your personal data.

谷歌对隐私政策的修改似乎承认，通过“个人智能”与人工智能搜索共享的数据可能会因此有助于广告个性化。据谷歌称，这一澄清并不意味着广告是“直接基于”您的个人数据的。

Here’s the company’s full statement: “Connecting your apps is entirely opt-in. Ads will continue to be relevant to things like your query, the context of the response and your interests. Ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or Photos library, and as always, sensitive information will not be used to tailor ads.”

以下是该公司的完整声明：“连接您的应用完全是自愿选择的。广告将继续与您的查询、响应的上下文以及您的兴趣等内容相关。广告不会直接基于您的 Gmail 收件箱或相册库，并且一如既往，敏感信息不会被用于定制广告。”

Google’s statement is essentially a roundabout way of confirming that Workspace and Photos data may inform ads. If you interact with AI Mode while Personal Intelligence is enabled, there’s a chance that summaries and insights from your data will inform the answers you get. Because that same data is used for ad targeting, it’s accurate to say that your personal data is an element of ad targeting in AI search. The privacy policy now makes that clear.

谷歌的声明本质上是一种委婉的确认，即 Workspace 和相册数据可能会为广告提供参考。如果您在启用“个人智能”的情况下与 AI 模式互动，那么从您的数据中提取的摘要和见解可能会影响您得到的答案。由于这些相同的数据被用于广告定位，因此可以说您的个人数据是人工智能搜索中广告定位的一个要素。现在的隐私政策明确了这一点。

A Google spokesperson tells Ars that its privacy clarification does not indicate a change in how it handles your data with respect to its advertising partners. It’s not scanning your entire inbox to enhance your advertising profile, and it’s not giving any of this data to third parties. But if you pipe personal data into an AI search tool, the ads it shows you could be based on that information.

一位谷歌发言人告诉 Ars，其隐私澄清并不意味着它在处理与广告合作伙伴相关的数据方式上发生了变化。它并没有扫描您的整个收件箱来增强您的广告档案，也没有将这些数据提供给任何第三方。但是，如果您将个人数据输入到人工智能搜索工具中，它向您展示的广告可能会基于这些信息。

The core of the problem is that Google wants its products and services to talk to each other. Google sees that wealth of data as a key strength of its AI efforts. Some apps like Gmail are still given protected status in Google’s data handling, but there are now more avenues for that data to get out. The more data you share across Google’s ecosystem, the greater the risk to your privacy.

问题的核心在于，谷歌希望其产品和服务能够互通。谷歌将这些海量数据视为其人工智能工作的关键优势。虽然 Gmail 等一些应用在谷歌的数据处理中仍享有受保护的地位，但现在这些数据外泄的途径更多了。您在谷歌生态系统中共享的数据越多，您的隐私风险就越大。

Google is correct that Personal Intelligence is opt-in, but the company uses various prompts and pop-ups to entice users to turn it on without fully explaining the consequences. You may have turned it on without realizing. If you want to ensure ads never use your personal data in this way, you’ll need to make sure Personal Intelligence is turned off.

谷歌说“个人智能”是自愿选择的这一点没错，但该公司使用了各种提示和弹窗来诱导用户开启该功能，而没有充分解释其后果。您可能在不知不觉中开启了它。如果您想确保广告永远不会以这种方式使用您的个人数据，您需要确保“个人智能”已关闭。