Google is facing a lawsuit alleging that its AI assistant, Gemini, has been used to intercept and monitor private communications of users on its Gmail, chat, and video-conferencing services without their knowledge or consent. The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, claims that Google secretly enabled Gemini to access these applications in October, allowing for data collection without user consent.
The complaint alleges that while Google allows users to disable the AI assistant, doing so requires navigating the company’s privacy settings. Unless users take this step, Google allegedly utilizes Gemini to access and exploit the entire recorded history of users’ private communications, including every email and attachment sent and received in their Gmail accounts.
The lawsuit claims that Google is in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, a 1967 law that prohibits secret wiretapping and recording of confidential communications without the consent of all parties. Gemini, launched in 2023, is a family of AI models designed to process and generate text, code, audio, and video.
This is not the first time Google has faced controversy over user privacy. In September, the company was ordered to pay $425.7 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it violated user privacy by collecting data from users of third-party applications even when tracking settings were disabled. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, claimed that Google began collecting this data in 2016.
Google’s Gemini technology has also faced controversies, including reports that hackers from over 20 countries have used the chatbot to gather information for cyberattacks. The company’s handling of user data has been under scrutiny, and this latest lawsuit highlights ongoing concerns about privacy and transparency.
The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for Google and its users, particularly in regards to data protection and privacy. As the company continues to develop and integrate AI technologies like Gemini, it will be important for users to be aware of how their data is being used and to take steps to protect their privacy.
