Overview
- Engineering YouTuber Davey Jones claimed on X that Gmail accounts were automatically opted in to allow scanning of emails and attachments for AI, urging users to change two settings.
- Guides from recent coverage show users must disable Smart Features in Gmail settings and then adjust the separate Google Workspace smart feature settings to opt out.
- Outlet tests report that opting out removes inbox categories like Promotions and Social and disables tools such as smart compose, spell check, grammar aids and quick calendar adds.
- A November 2025 lawsuit by Illinois resident Thomas Thele alleges Google secretly enabled Gemini access for Gmail, Chat and Meet on October 10, 2025 and kept tracking by default.
- Google told HuffPost that the reports are misleading and said it does not use Gmail content to train its Gemini AI model, characterizing Smart Features as longstanding.