Is Google AI Mode private? What Search saves, trains on, and shares

The Morse teamPublished October 25, 202610 min read

As of October 2026, Google's AI Mode is private from other people but not from Google. When you're signed in, Google saves your AI Mode threads, uploads, and voice questions to your Google Account under a setting called Search Services History. While Search Services History is on, Google uses AI Mode threads to train its AI. Human reviewers may read some of those threads. Google keeps the data it trains on for up to four years, disconnected from your account.

We read Google's own Search help pages on AI Mode, Search Services History, saved media, connected apps, and deleting activity on October 25, 2026, along with the Google Privacy Policy (effective October 16, 2026) and the Gemini Apps Privacy Hub (last updated October 23, 2026). Google deserves credit for one thing. Google asks your permission before reviewers look at your photos, files, and recordings, and Google's pages say so plainly.

Google AI Mode privacy at a glance

Does Google AI Mode save your history?

Yes, Google AI Mode saves your history if you're signed in and Search Services History is on. Google says the setting saves your searches, "info from sites you visit with Search services, and generative AI responses" to your Google Account (Google). AI Mode threads count as Search activity, so they sit with your Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News history.

Search Services History is a new setting. Google is moving Search off Web & App Activity, and its help page says the new setting starts out "based on your most recent choices" for Web & App Activity (Google). If your Web & App Activity was on, Search Services History is on too.

Google's Search pages list what that history can hold (Google):

• Your AI Mode threads: "Generative AI responses in AI Mode or Ask Maps."
• Your uploads: "Images you upload in Google Lens, AI Mode, or Google's Try-on tool."
• Your voice: "Recordings and transcripts from Search Live and voice searches."
• Pages you browse: sites "you browse with AI Mode in Chrome or your iPhone's Google Search app."
• Other people: on a shared device, Google says your history "may include activity from the other person's use of your device."
• Your location: "info about your location from your device's general area and IP address." Google's privacy policy says a general area covers at least 3 square kilometers or at least 1,000 people (Google).

Google's Search help pages, read October 25, 2026, don't name a default auto-delete period for Search Services History. Google's June 24, 2020 post set Web & App Activity auto-delete to 18 months by default "for new accounts," and people who already had the setting on kept their settings (Google). An account made before mid-2020 may never have had a timer set, so check yours at myactivity.google.com/search-services/settings.

Google also lists meeting "any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request" among the uses of Search Services History (Google). Its account help says it may keep some data after you delete it, for example when it "receives a lawful subpoena" (Google). This isn't legal advice.

How do you delete AI Mode history?

You delete AI Mode history from the AI Mode page. On a computer, go to AI Mode and click AI Mode history on the left (Google). Next to one search, click More, then Delete. To clear every thread, click More at the top of AI Mode history, then Delete all.

Google says deleted AI Mode searches "may still appear in My Activity for some time" and are "auto-deleted in less than 24 hours." A thread that started as an AI Overview and moved into AI Mode leaves a second entry in your Search history, which you delete there. Our Perplexity alternatives guide compares that cleanup with other AI search tools.

To stop saving new threads, open Search Services History in My Google Activity, select Turn off, then Turn off or Turn off and delete activity (Google). Google warns that "Past history you don't delete can be used even when you change this setting."

Does Google AI Mode use your data for training?

Yes, Google AI Mode uses your data for training while Search Services History is on. Google says it uses your history "to provide, develop, and improve its services (such as training generative AI models)" (Google).

• How long training copies last. "Data used to train our AI models is disconnected from your Google Account and retained for up to 4 years."
• What deleting misses. Saved media "already been selected to train AI models" is kept for up to 4 years "even if you delete the original activity" (Google).
• What turning it off does. With the setting off, future activity "won't be used to train Google's generative AI models, unless you provide feedback."
• What still runs with it off. Google may "temporarily use data like your recent searches" and still collects data "not associated with your account."
• School accounts. If your account came from your school, Google "does not use your Search Services History data to train generative AI models."

Feedback is the exception. A thumbs up or down in AI Mode sends "your most recent search query and its search results" to Google (Google).

Do people at Google read your AI Mode searches?

People may read some of your AI Mode searches. Google says search queries and AI responses in your history "may be reviewed by human reviewers," including "trained reviewers from our service providers" (Google).

Google describes two protections. "Data is disconnected from your Google Account" before reviewers see it, and filters try to remove "identifying info or sensitive personal information." Anything you typed about yourself can still be in the text.

Media gets a stricter rule. Google says it "will seek your permission" before reviewers see your saved images, files, or recordings, through a box labeled Allow review of saved media (Google). Even with that box off, media "can still be reviewed for limited purposes, such as to respond to your feedback, debug issues, and to protect Google."

What happens when you connect Gmail and Photos to AI Mode?

Connecting Gmail and Photos to AI Mode opens them to every Search service. Google's note on the feature says "all Search services will be permitted to access Workspace (currently Gmail and Google Calendar) and Google Photos," and the note lists Search, AI Mode, Discover, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News (Google). Help Net Security's January 26, 2026 report on the launch describes AI Mode reading Gmail and Photos and doesn't mention the other services (Help Net Security).

Google's page also covers training, reviewers, ads, and disconnecting:

• Training. Google may use connected data "to improve Google services for everyone, including by training generative AI models."
• Your inbox itself. "Search services do not train generative AI models directly on your Gmail inbox," but Google trains on "summaries, excerpts, generated media, and inferences," and for a short email "the summary may just be the email."
• Reviewers. Reviewers may see "interactions, summaries, excerpts and inferences from your relevant emails and files."
• Ads. Ads "will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox," but summaries and inferences from it "may be used to show you ads."
• Disconnecting. Disconnecting an app "doesn't delete any data from your Search Services History," which "can still be used for product improvement."

Google adds: "Please don't connect your Google content apps if they contain personal or confidential information that you wouldn't want a reviewer to see."

Is AI Mode the same as Gemini for privacy?

No, Google AI Mode and the Gemini app have different privacy settings, retention periods, and ad rules. Deleting one history leaves the other in place. Google's Search pages say Search Services History doesn't cover "Gemini Apps," and that turning it off doesn't affect Gemini Apps Activity (Google).

All rows read October 25, 2026. The Gemini app's own settings, reviewers, and connected apps are covered in is Gemini private.

Can you use AI Mode privately, signed out or in Incognito?

AI Mode is only partly private when you're signed out or in Incognito. Google says your search history "isn't saved to your Google Account" in Incognito mode (Google). The Google Privacy Policy says you can search on Google "when you're signed out or without creating an account at all" (Google).

Signed-out searches can still shape what you see. Google says "your search and ad results may be customized with search-related activity even if you're signed out," and you can turn that off with Search customization at g.co/privacytools (Google). Google's AI Mode help pages, read October 25, 2026, don't say how long a signed-out AI Mode question is kept. For Gemini 4 Argon in AI Mode, Google says "you must be signed in to a personal Google Account that you manage on your own," and lists it for "Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers 18 and above," with daily usage limits (Google).

How Morse keeps your AI searches private

Every problem above starts in one place. AI Mode is Google Search, and Search files what you ask in the same Google Account that holds your Gmail, your Photos, your Maps history, and the profile Google uses for ads.

On Morse, your chat history is stored only in your browser, encrypted, not on our servers. There's no Search Services History to carry over from an old setting, no auto-delete timer to check, and no second entry to hunt down after you delete a thread. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, so there's no four-year training copy. Morse doesn't sell your data or show ads, so nothing you ask feeds an ad profile. Morse's Free plan includes web search.

• Private, for questions you'd rather no company keep. Private is the default for a new chat. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, plus xAI's Grok, answer under the zero data retention agreements Morse has with its inference, search, and other providers, so they've agreed to keep nothing. Where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't.
• Anonymous, for asking Gemini without Google knowing it's you. Our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address and sends the message under Morse's own account. The provider sees the question without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy. Leave names and details that identify you out of the message.
• E2EE, for a question no one should read. Your browser checks the secure enclave's proof that it's genuine, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and our servers relay ciphertext they can't read. The guarantee rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. E2EE chats have no web search, so use E2EE for questions that need no search. E2EE chats come with Pro, at $19 a month.

In every mode, your history locks when you sign out, and opening it takes a key that stays on your device plus one our server gives you at sign-in. Since we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities (Morse privacy policy). Your device holds the only copy, so deleting a chat or clearing your browser removes it for good, and Morse can't recover it. Keep anything you'll need.

So is AI Mode private enough for you?

• Your saved threads: in Google, delete them from AI Mode history and the AI Overview entry in Search history, then set an auto-delete timer. On Morse, history stays in your browser.
• Model training: in Google, turn off Search Services History and skip the thumbs. Morse doesn't train AI on your chats.
• Reviewers: in Google, leave Allow review of saved media off and keep sensitive details out of text. In Morse's Anonymous mode, the provider gets the question without knowing it's you.
• Your inbox and photos: in Google, don't connect Gmail or Photos unless every Search service may use them. In Morse, start sensitive questions in Private or E2EE.

For how Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and others compare, see are AI chats private.

Ask a first question on the Morse home page without an account, or start free with web search and no card.