Google users now have a new privacy setting to check. A change to Search services privacy settings lets Google save more user data, including media such as images, files, and audio and video recordings, for use in improving its services and AI models.
The practical point is simple: if you upload media through Google Search services, that media may be saved and used for AI training unless you change the setting.
What changed in Google Search services
The update was announced in June through a customer email and introduced two settings: Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations. These settings affect how Google uses activity to personalize a user experience and how long web and app activity is saved.
The change matters because it separates some Search-related data controls from older Web & App Activity settings. According to the source article, Google’s new Search data setting is on by default. That means changing Web & App Activity data retention alone no longer controls the same Search services storage behavior.
Google framed the update as a way to give users more control over saved history and personalized recommendations. But the result is broader data storage for Search services, including saved media that can be used to develop and improve AI models and safety measures.
Which Google activity is affected
This is not limited to typing a query into Google Search. The update applies to Search services including Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News.
Media-based searches are especially important to understand. If a person uses Google Lens by taking a photo to search visually, that image may now be saved for AI training. If a person uses Search Live in the Google app with voice input, those audio recordings could be saved. The same applies to other Google voice search activity, and audio from practicing speaking in Google Translate can be saved too.
That makes the setting relevant for several everyday actions:
- Taking a photo with Google Lens to identify or search for something
- Using voice input through Search Live in the Google app
- Using other Google voice search features
- Practicing speaking in Google Translate
- Uploading files or media through Google Search services
The underlying issue is not only personalization. Google says saved media can also help improve technologies, including AI models.
How Google describes the AI use
Google’s customer email directly connects saved media with AI development. The article quotes the company as saying: “Like your Search Services History, your saved media is also used to develop and improve Google services and technologies, including AI models and safety measures.”
Google’s help documentation also says the company “uses your history to provide, develop, and improve its services (such as training generative AI models) and to protect Google, its users, and the public with the help of human reviewers.”
Some storage may be temporary and tied to making the product work. But Google’s own wording, as reported in the source, also describes saved media being retained for AI-related improvement.
The change fits a wider pattern described in the source article: companies are not relying only on information gathered from the web to improve AI services. They are also using data that people create or upload while using their products. Meta is cited as another consumer-facing company training AI on users’ images and media, as well as content recorded by its AI glasses.
How to opt out of saved media
Users can change preferences on the Search Services History and Search Services Personalization pages. On the Search Services History page, the source article says users can uncheck the “Save Media” box separately from the “Search Services History” box, or uncheck both.
Google also provides automatic deletion options for saved data. Users can configure deletion after three months, 18 months, or 36 months.
For a broader review, users can go into other privacy settings as well, including Web & App Activity, Timeline, YouTube History, and more. That matters because Google also uses search history, location, and other information from websites people visit to personalize the Google experience, including which ads are shown.
The key distinction is that Search services now have their own setting. If someone only changes Web & App Activity data retention, that change no longer covers the newer Google Search services option described in the article.
Why this setting deserves attention
The important takeaway is not that every Google feature works the same way. It is that the settings structure has changed, and a control that once seemed broad may no longer cover Search services data in the same way.
For users, the most direct action is to review Search Services History and look specifically for the Save Media option. Anyone who uses Google Lens, voice search, Search Live, or Google Translate audio features has a clear reason to check whether saved media is enabled.
Privacy settings often sound abstract until they apply to concrete media: a photo, a file, a voice recording, or a video recording. This update makes those media types part of the decision about whether Google can store activity to improve services, including AI models.