Oct 25, 2026

How to Stop Google Using Your Gmail and Photos for AI and Ads: Personal Intelligence Settings

If you have connected Gmail or Google Photos to Gemini or to Google Search’s AI Mode, Google’s updated privacy policy now allows insights from that content to shape the ads you see. The fix takes about five minutes and needs no technical skills: disconnect the apps in two separate places (Gemini’s Connected Apps and Search’s Connected Content Apps), then decide whether to turn off one Gmail switch and personalized ads altogether. This guide walks through each screen, explains what you lose by switching things off, and covers the gotchas Google’s help pages mention only in passing.

Key facts (from Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s help pages linked below):

Policy date: the current Google Privacy Policy is marked “Effective October 16, 2026.”

The new wording: “We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos, unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.”

What Google says about ads: if you connect Gmail or Photos to Search services, “Search may reference summaries, excerpts and inferences from these sources… That same info may be used to show you ads.” Ads “will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or your Google Photos library,” and advertisers don’t get access to your inbox or photos (Google Search Help).

It’s opt-in: nothing changes unless you connected these apps. But Gemini and Search have separate connection settings, so you have to check both.

What actually changed

Google’s privacy policy used to say, without conditions, that personalized ads are not based on your content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The version effective October 16, 2026 keeps that sentence but adds a condition: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.” The change was spotted by Android Authority and widely reported on October 23 (9to5Google, Android Authority).

The “choice” Google refers to is Personal Intelligence, its feature that lets Gemini and Search’s AI Mode read across your Google apps. The policy explains it with a direct example:

“You may choose to allow certain Google services, including services like Search or Gemini Apps, to access data from other Google services you use, such as Google Photos and Workspace apps like Gmail and Drive… For example, Search may process some of the data that you allow Search to access to personalize content, including ads.”

So the practical question for you is simple: have you connected Gmail, Calendar, Drive or Photos to Gemini or to Search? If you clicked “Connect all” on a Gemini welcome card or turned on Personal Intelligence in AI Mode at some point, the answer may be yes.

Two things Google does not say, so don’t over-read the headlines:

Google’s ad FAQ for this feature lives on the Search help page. The Gemini Personal Intelligence help page doesn’t say Gemini itself uses your connected data for ads. Gemini is still worth checking, because that’s where most people connected their apps, and its data rules include AI training and human review (see below).
Advertisers don’t see your emails or photos. Google’s FAQ answers “Will you share my Gmail inbox or Google Photos library with advertisers?” with a flat “No.”

Who this affects

Personal Intelligence isn’t available everywhere, so first check whether it even applies to you:

Gemini: you must be 18 or older and signed in with a personal Google Account (not work, school or supervised). Google says it is currently not available in the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland or the United Kingdom (Gemini Apps Help).
Search (AI Mode and Ask Maps): you must be 18 or older, signed in to a personal account, and in a supported country. Google lists many countries across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, including the US, Canada, India, Japan and Australia. Connecting Google Calendar is US-English only, and Photos isn’t available in all regions.
Work and school accounts can’t use Personal Intelligence in Gemini at all.

If you live in the EEA, UK, Switzerland or Japan, Google says Gmail’s “smart features” are off by default (Gmail Help). That makes it much less likely your Gmail is connected, but it’s still worth a 30-second check.

Step 1: Disconnect apps from Gemini

This is the setting most people turned on without thinking about it, often through a “Get started” card that offered Connect all, Choose apps or Don’t connect.

On a computer (gemini.google.com):

Go to gemini.google.com and sign in.
At the bottom, click Settings & help, then Personal Intelligence, then Connected Apps.
You’ll see toggles for Contacts, Google Photos (if available), Google Wallet (US only), Google Workspace, Search services and YouTube.
Turn off any app you don’t want Gemini to read. For Gmail, Calendar and Drive, that’s the Google Workspace toggle.
Follow any on-screen confirmation.

In the Gemini mobile app:

Open the Gemini app.
Tap Menu, then your profile picture or initial, then Personal Intelligence, then Connected Apps.
Turn off the apps you don’t want connected.

These steps come straight from Google’s Gemini help page. Personal Intelligence works in the Gemini web and mobile apps, Gemini in Chrome and Gemini on your smartwatch, and Google ties your experience to your Google Account, so make sure you check the account you actually use on each device.

Gotcha: disconnecting doesn’t erase what Gemini already learned

Google is explicit that you need two steps to remove something Gemini picked up from a connected app:

Delete the chats that contain the info (in Gemini Apps Activity or Recent chats).
Disconnect the app, so Gemini can’t look it up again.

“If you only disconnect the app, Gemini might still use the info if it’s in a past chat. If you only delete the chats, Gemini might still find the info in the connected app.” Google also notes that after you delete an email or photo, Gemini may not reflect the change “until days later.”

Want to keep Personal Intelligence but skip it for one chat?

You don’t have to choose all-or-nothing. In a chat’s text box, click Tools and turn Personal Intelligence off for that conversation (Google says this per-chat control is rolling out gradually). Two catches: it switches back on by default for every new chat, and the chat is still saved to your activity. For a conversation that isn’t saved to your account at all, use a temporary chat instead.

Step 2: Disconnect apps from Google Search (AI Mode and Maps)

This is the setting the privacy policy’s ad example refers to, and it’s separate from Gemini. Turning off Gemini’s Connected Apps does not touch it.

Go to your Google Account and click Data & privacy.
Click Personalization settings, then open Personalized Recommendations in Search services. You can also go straight to google.com/search-personalization.
Find Additional Personal Intelligence, then Connected Content Apps.
If Google Workspace or Google Photos shows as connected, disconnect it.

Google’s own help page describes the connect flow on this exact screen (Google Search Help). Note its warning at the top: Google is “currently updating settings for Google Search services,” so labels may differ slightly from what you see. If you can’t find Search Services Personalization, Google says your history and recommendations are still controlled by Web & App Activity for now.

Connecting here applies to every Search service at once. Google’s note: “all Search services will be permitted to access Workspace (currently Gmail and Google Calendar) and Google Photos,” including Search, AI Mode, Discover, Maps (Ask Maps), Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate and News.

Gotcha: disconnecting doesn’t clear your Search history

Google states that “disconnecting a connected Google content app or deleting any data in that app doesn’t delete any data from your Search Services History. That data can still be used for product improvement, including training generative AI models.” If you want that history gone too, delete it at activity.google.com. Turning Search Services History off and choosing Turn off and delete activity removes past activity, and Google says that with history off, “your future activity won’t be used to train Google’s generative AI models, unless you provide feedback” (Google Search Help).

The bigger switch: Personalized Recommendations

On the same page you can turn Personalized Recommendations off entirely. Connected Content Apps require it, so switching it off guarantees AI Mode can’t use your Gmail or Photos. The cost: Search stops tailoring results, Discover feeds and AI answers to your interests and past searches.

Step 3: Turn off the Gmail switch that feeds everything else

There’s one Gmail setting that sits underneath both Gemini and Search: Smart features in other Google products. Google lists what it powers: Personal Intelligence in the Gemini app, Personal Intelligence in Search services, restaurant reservations and to-go orders in Maps, and suggested tickets and passes in Wallet. Gemini “can’t connect to Google Workspace when this setting is off.”

To change it on a computer:

Open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings (the gear), then See all settings.
On the General tab, scroll to Google Workspace smart features.
Click Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
Turn off Smart features in other Google products.
Click Save at the bottom right.

You can also change it in the Gmail app on Android, iPhone or iPad, and Google says the change “appl[ies] across all devices and apps where you’re signed in” (Gmail Help).

This switch is separate from Smart features in Google Workspace (features inside Gmail, Docs and Drive themselves) and from Gmail’s own smart features like spam filtering and smart compose. You can leave those on and turn off only the “other Google products” switch.

Gotcha: Google notes that even with this setting off, if you share Workspace content through “screen actions (including screenshots),” some features in other products still work, for example asking Gemini about what’s on your screen. Turning off the switch doesn’t stop you from deliberately showing Gemini an email.

Step 4 (optional): Turn off personalized ads altogether

If your real concern is ads rather than AI features, the most direct control is My Ad Center:

Go to My Ad Center while signed in.
Next to Personalized ads, select Off.
Confirm your choice.

According to Google’s My Ad Center help, with personalized ads off, ads on Google services “will be non-personalized,” based on context such as the time of day, the page you’re on, your current location or your active searches, and “your saved info won’t be used to show you ads.” The setting applies on every device where you’re signed in. You’ll still see ads; they’ll just be less tailored. Turning it off also deletes the topic and brand preferences you’d customized in My Ad Center.

This approach lets you keep Personal Intelligence for its useful parts (Gemini finding a flight confirmation in Gmail, Maps routing you to a hotel you booked) while cutting the link to ads.

Which combination should you choose?

What you want	What to do
Keep AI features, avoid ad personalization	Step 4 only (personalized ads off)
No AI reading Gmail or Photos at all	Steps 1, 2 and 3
Keep Gemini’s help with email, keep Search generic	Step 2 only, plus Step 4 if you care about ads
Maximum privacy	Steps 1 to 4, then delete history at activity.google.com

What you give up

Be clear-eyed about the trade-off. Google’s help pages describe what Personal Intelligence does when connected:

Gemini can find and summarize information across your apps, for example “photos from your last vacation,” and build itineraries or recommendations based on your preferences.
AI Mode can use past restaurant reservations in Gmail to tailor new restaurant suggestions, or check your hotel booking when you plan a trip.
Ask Maps can give directions to a restaurant, event or hotel it finds in your email.

If you rely on these, consider the ads-only route (Step 4) rather than disconnecting everything.

AI training and human review: read this before reconnecting

The ads change got the headlines, but Google’s Search help page includes two disclosures worth knowing if you ever reconnect:

Training: if you connect your content apps to Search services, “we may use that data to improve Google services for everyone, including by training generative AI models.” Google says it doesn’t train “directly on your Gmail inbox” or Photos imagery, but it does train on “summaries, excerpts, generated media, and inferences,” and “where the email or file is brief or particularly relevant… the summary may just be the email or file.”
Human review: “a subset of that data processed by AI Mode in Search and Ask Maps… is reviewed by human reviewers (including trained service providers).” Google says it disconnects this data from your account and reduces personal information first.

Google’s own advice is blunt: “Please don’t connect your Google content apps if they contain personal or confidential information that you wouldn’t want to be used for training generative AI models.” It’s the same principle we recommend for any AI tool that touches your accounts, as in our guide to the Grok Bot Vault: give the assistant only what you’d be comfortable having seen.

Troubleshooting

I can’t find “Personal Intelligence” in Gemini settings. Google says the feature is “being released gradually.” It’s also missing if you’re in the EEA, UK, Switzerland or Nigeria, under 18, or signed in with a work or school account. If you don’t see it, you most likely haven’t connected anything through it.

My Workspace and Photos toggles in Gemini were already off, even though I connected them before. That’s expected. Google says that if you had previously connected Workspace or Photos, “your settings have been reset with the launch of Personal Intelligence with Connected Apps.” You’d only be connected now if you opted in again.

The Search settings page looks different from these steps. Google warns that Search settings are mid-update. Look for Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations; if neither exists for your account, Web & App Activity still controls Search personalization.

Gemini still mentions something from my email after I disconnected. It’s probably coming from a past chat. Delete the chats that contain it, then check again.

Does this affect my phone’s Gemini differently from the web? No. Connected Apps is an account setting. If results differ across devices, Google suggests checking that every device is signed in to the same personal Google Account.

FAQ

Is Google reading my Gmail to target ads now? Not by default. Per Google’s policy and FAQ, this only happens if you connected Gmail or Photos to Search services, and even then ads use summaries and inferences, not your raw inbox. Advertisers never get your emails.

Does turning off Gemini’s Connected Apps fix the ads issue? Not on its own. The privacy policy’s ad example names Search, which has its own Connected Content Apps setting (Step 2). Do both, or simply turn off personalized ads (Step 4).

Will disconnecting break Gmail’s spam filter or smart compose? No. Those are controlled by different switches. Step 3 only turns off Smart features in other Google products.

Can I reconnect later? Yes. Every toggle in this guide can be switched back on at any time from the same screens.

If you use Gemini a lot, our Gemini 3.6 Flash guide explains which of Google’s Flash models to pick and what they cost. For more practical AI guides, see the 7minai homepage.