Google Docs Are Being Used to Train AI. Check Your Settings.

• Publicly available Google Docs were used to train Google’s AI.
• But what is a “publicly available” Google Doc?
• Don’t worry. Google says it won’t remove your documents if they’re set to “anyone with the link.”

I use Google Docs like a chaos gremlin: constantly and with a nihilistic approach to organizing and labeling. I’m guessing 75% of my Google Drive is stuff called “Untitled.” I’m constantly creating new text documents – every time I want to take notes during a phone call, start writing an article, jot down half a thought, or simply copy some text or link that I want to save for consult later.

The result is a ton of half-written documents, sometimes completely blank or containing only a few words – which will probably never be reopened and most of which will never be shared. But I end up sharing a lot of work-related material – with editors or other colleagues. I’ve usually done this by adjusting the “share” settings so that anyone with the link can open the document.

That’s why I was alarmed when it was revealed that Google was using “publicly available” Google Docs to train its artificial intelligence. Does this include my stuff?

Google Docs sharing has two main options: you can either add certain people’s email addresses so that only those people can open the document, or you can set it so that anyone with the link can open it. (There is a third option for the Enterprise Edition, where you can share it with anyone within your company.)

Did using the option to share with anyone who had the link mean it was “publicly available”? Yeah ?! Help!!!

Fortunately, this is not the case. A Google representative confirmed to Business Insider that simply changing the sharing settings to “anyone with the link” did not mean a document was “public” and would be used for AI training.

To be “publicly accessible,” this document would have to be published on a website or shared on social media. Basically some sort of web crawler should be able to find it. This can’t happen with a file simply emailed between two people – like if you sent your friend a link via Gmail, for example, Google said.

For example, a Google document uploaded like this.

Phew. So, for now, unless you’re tweeting links to your spreadsheets, your Google Docs probably haven’t been used for AI training or considered “publicly available.”