Google uses information to provide, maintain, improve and develop services, including training AI models on public data
Google says it uses the information collected from all its services for several purposes. It uses your information to deliver services, such as processing search terms to return results or suggesting recipients from your contacts when you share. It also uses information to check that services work as intended, such as tracking outages and troubleshooting issues you report, and to improve services, for example learning which search terms are often misspelled to improve spell-check. It uses information from existing services to help develop new ones, with the Picasa to Google Photos example. Elsewhere Google says its research and development use includes using publicly available information to help train its AI models.
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We use the information we collect from all our services for the following purposes:
We use your information to deliver our services
We also use your information to ensure our services are working as intended
we use your information to make improvements to our services
We use the information we collect in existing services to help us develop new ones.
we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Gemini Apps, and Cloud AI capabilities
Qualifications & exceptions
The statement applies to information collected "from all our services", so one service's data can inform another service's improvements.
The AI-training statement elsewhere is about publicly available information; this section does not say whether other data is used for training.
Not stated here
Whether information from your account content is used to train AI models is not stated in this section.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Google uses your information to personalize content, recommendations and search results, depending on your settings
Google uses the information it collects to tailor its services for you, including personalized experiences and recommendations such as content and search results. Its examples are Security Checkup tips adapted to how you use Google products and, depending on your available settings, Google Play using the apps you have installed and videos you have watched on YouTube to suggest new apps. Elsewhere Google says that when Personalized Recommendations in Search services is on, those services can give results, curated feeds and AI responses personalized to you from information in your Google Account, including Search Services History.
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We use the information we collect to tailor our services for you, including providing customized and personalized experiences and recommendations, including things like content, and search results.
depending on your available settings, Google Play could use information like apps you’ve already installed and videos you’ve watched on YouTube to suggest new apps you might like
When Personalized Recommendations in Search services is on, these services can provide results, curated feeds, and AI responses that are personalized to you based on info in your Google Account, including Search Services History.
Qualifications & exceptions
Some examples apply only "depending on your available settings".
Use & Processing · Company practice
Depending on your settings, Google may show personalized ads based on your interests and activity across its services
Depending on your settings, Google may show you personalized ads based on your interests and your activity across Google services. For example, searching for "mountain bikes" may lead to sports-equipment ads on YouTube. You can control what information Google uses to show you ads through your ad settings in My Ad Center. Google also says you may see personalized ads based on information from an advertiser, such as a visit to the advertiser's website.
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Depending on your settings, we may also show you personalized ads based on your interests and activity across Google services.
You can control what information we use to show you ads by visiting your ad settings in
You may also see personalized ads based on information from the advertiser.
Qualifications & exceptions
The ads statement is conditioned on settings; the controls are in My Ad Center.
Advertiser-supplied information can also drive personalized ads, per the linked explanation elsewhere in the policy.
Use & Processing · Company commitment
Google says it does not use sensitive categories or Drive, Gmail and Photos content for personalized ads
Google lists limits on ads. It says it does not show personalized ads based on sensitive categories such as race, religion, sexual orientation or health, and elsewhere it says it also does not use topics based on those categories and requires the same from advertisers that use its services. It says it does not show personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. And it says it does not share information that personally identifies you, such as your name or email, with advertisers unless you ask it to; its example is that tapping a "tap to call" button on an ad connects your call and may share your phone number with the business.
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We don’t show you personalized ads based on sensitive categories, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.
We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos.
We don’t share information that personally identifies you with advertisers, such as your name or email, unless you ask us to.
we’ll connect your call and may share your phone number with the flower shop
We don’t use topics or show personalized ads based on sensitive categories like race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.
require the same from advertisers
Qualifications & exceptions
The limit on sharing identifying information is stated as "unless you ask us to".
These are statements about personalized ads; they do not say the underlying data is not collected or used for other purposes such as the ones in this section.
Elsewhere Google says its automated systems analyze your content to provide personalized ads, which should be read together with the Drive, Gmail and Photos limit.
Not stated here
The policy does not say which Google products' content, beyond Drive, Gmail and Photos, is excluded from personalized ads.
Google uses your contact details to notify you of suspicious activity and changes, and keeps records of requests
Google uses information such as your email address to interact with you directly. Examples are notifying you of suspicious activity such as an attempt to sign in from an unusual location, and letting you know about upcoming changes or improvements to services. If you contact Google, it keeps a record of your request to help solve any issues.
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We use information we collect, like your email address, to interact with you directly.
we may send you a notification if we detect suspicious activity
if you contact Google, we’ll keep a record of your request in order to help solve any issues you might be facing
Use & Processing · Company practice
Google uses automated systems that analyze your content for tailored results, personalized ads and abuse detection
Google says it uses automated systems that analyze your content to provide things like tailored search results, personalized ads or other features tailored to how you use its services. It also analyzes your content to help detect abuse such as spam, malware and illegal content, and uses algorithms to recognize patterns in data, for example Google Translate detecting common language patterns.
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We use automated systems that analyze your content to provide you with things like tailored search results, personalized ads, or other features tailored to how you use our services.
we analyze your content to help us detect abuse such as spam, malware, and illegal content
We also use algorithms to recognize patterns in data.
Qualifications & exceptions
Google separately says it does not show personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail or Photos; the policy does not reconcile this with "analyze your content ... personalized ads" in a single statement, so the exact scope of content analyzed for ads is not spelled out.
Not stated here
Which products' content is analyzed for which purposes is not specified in this paragraph.
Use & Processing · Company commitment
Google says it will ask for your consent before using your information for a purpose not covered by the policy
Google says it will ask for your consent before using your information for a purpose that is not covered in this Privacy Policy.
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We’ll ask for your consent before using your information for a purpose that isn’t covered in this Privacy Policy.
Qualifications & exceptions
The commitment is limited to purposes not covered; the purposes the policy does cover are broad, so this protection applies only outside them.
Use & Processing · User right or choice
History and personalization controls let you choose whether activity is saved to your account and used to personalize
Across many services you can adjust history and personalization controls to choose whether some types of data are saved in your Google Account and how it is used to personalize your experience. Examples: with YouTube History on, the videos you watch and search for are saved for better recommendations; saving activity from Search, Maps and Shopping to your Search Services History lets you resume an AI Mode interaction or see past searches as Autocomplete suggestions; when Personalized Recommendations in Search services is on, those services can give results, curated feeds and AI responses personalized from your Google Account info, including Search Services History; and with Web & App Activity on, activity from some other Google services is saved for more personalized experiences. Web & App Activity also has a subsetting that controls whether some information about your activity on other sites, apps and devices that use Google services is saved with it and used to improve Google services.
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you can adjust history and personalization controls to make choices about whether we save some types of data in your Google Account and how we use it to personalize your experience
if you have YouTube History turned on, the videos you watch and the things you search for are saved in your account
Saving activity from services like Search, Maps, and Shopping to your Search Services History
When Personalized Recommendations in Search services is on, these services can provide results, curated feeds, and AI responses that are personalized to you based on info in your Google Account, including Search Services History.
if you have Web & App Activity turned on, your activity from some other Google services are saved in your account so you can get more personalized experiences
Web & App Activity also has a subsetting that lets you control whether some
Qualifications & exceptions
Each example depends on a specific control being on.
The controls decide what is saved to your account and used to personalize; they are not described here as stopping all collection.
Not stated here
The default state of each control is not stated in this paragraph.
Use & Processing · User right or choice
Ad settings let you change interests, limit use of personal information for ad relevance, and turn off some ad services
Ad settings let you manage your preferences about ads shown on Google and on sites and apps that partner with Google to show ads. You can modify your interests, choose whether your personal information is used to make ads more relevant to you, and turn on or off certain advertising services. This is described as a choice about relevance and certain ad services; the policy does not say here that you can stop all ads.
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Manage your preferences about the ads shown to you on Google and on sites and apps that partner with Google to show ads.
You can modify your interests, choose whether your personal information is used to make ads more relevant to you, and turn on or off certain advertising services.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Business purposes: measurement for partners, advertising said to keep services free, and service providers
Under auditing and measurement, Google uses information for analytics and measurement and to fulfill obligations to partners such as publishers, advertisers, developers or rights holders, and may disclose non-personally identifiable information publicly and with these partners, including for auditing. Under advertising, Google processes information to provide ads, including online identifiers, browsing and search activity, and information about your location and interactions with ads, and says this keeps Google's services and many websites and services free of charge. You can control what information is used to show ads in My Ad Center. Under use of service providers, Google shares information with service providers to perform services on its behalf, in compliance with the policy and with confidentiality and security measures, for example customer support.
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Google uses information for analytics and measurement to understand how our services are used, as well as to fulfill obligations to our partners like publishers, advertisers, developers, or rights holders.
We may disclose non-personally identifiable information publicly and with these partners, including for auditing purposes.
Google processes information to provide advertising, including online identifiers, browsing and search activity, and information about your location and interactions with advertisements.
This keeps Google’s services and many of the websites and services you use free of charge.
Google shares information with service providers to perform services on our behalf, in compliance with our Privacy Policy and other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
Qualifications & exceptions
The disclosure to partners is described for non-personally identifiable information.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Research and development: improving services and building products, with public data used to train AI models
Under research and development, Google says it uses information to improve its services and to develop new products, features and technologies that benefit users and the public. Its example is using publicly available information to help train Google's AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Gemini Apps and Cloud AI capabilities. Under maintaining services, it uses information to make sure services work as intended, such as tracking outages or troubleshooting bugs and issues you report.
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Google uses information to improve our services and to develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public.
we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Gemini Apps, and Cloud AI capabilities
Google uses information to ensure our services are working as intended, such as tracking outages or troubleshooting bugs and other issues that you report to us.
Qualifications & exceptions
The AI-training example concerns publicly available information; this entry does not say whether information in your account is used for training.
Not stated here
The policy does not say here whether account content is used to train AI models.
Ads can follow your viewing and your approximate location from your IP address
Google gives examples of ad relevance: if you watch baking videos on YouTube, you may see more ads related to baking as you browse the web, and Google may use your IP address to determine your approximate location so it can serve ads for a nearby pizza delivery service if you search for "pizza". It links to explanations of Google ads and why you may see particular ads.
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if you watch videos about baking on YouTube, you may see more ads that relate to baking as you browse the web
We also may use your IP address to determine your approximate location, so that we can serve you ads for a nearby pizza delivery service if you search for “pizza.”
Qualifications & exceptions
These are illustrative examples of the personalized-ads and location uses described in the body of the policy; ad personalization depends on your settings.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Delivery examples: IP address, cookies, uploaded photos, flight emails and purchase details are used to run services
Google lists examples of using information to deliver services: the IP address assigned to your device is used to send requested data, such as loading a YouTube video; unique identifiers stored in cookies help authenticate you as the person who should have access to your Google Account; photos and videos you upload to Google Photos are used to help you create albums, collages and other creations; a flight confirmation email you receive may be used to create a "check-in" button in your Gmail; and when you buy services or physical goods, information such as your shipping address or delivery instructions is used to process, fulfill and deliver your order and to provide support.
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Examples of how we use your information to deliver our services include:
We use the IP address assigned to your device to send you the data you requested
We use unique identifiers stored in cookies on your device to help us authenticate you as the person who should have access to your Google Account
Photos and videos you upload to Google Photos are used to help you create albums, collages, and other creations that you can share.
A flight confirmation email you receive may be used to create a “check-in” button that appears in your Gmail
We use this information for things like processing, fulfilling, and delivering your order, and to provide support in connection with the product or service you purchase.
Qualifications & exceptions
The list is of examples ("include"), not an exhaustive statement of service-delivery uses.
The flight-email example shows that the content of emails you receive can be used for features within the same product.
Use & Processing · Company practice
More examples: device info picks devices and protects accounts; system monitoring and cookie analysis improve products
Google gives further examples. Information from your devices can help you decide which device to use to install an app or view a movie bought on Google Play, and is also used to help protect your account. Google analyzes how people interact with advertising to improve ad performance. It continuously monitors its systems for problems and, when a feature is faulty, reviews activity information collected before the problem started so it can fix things more quickly. It also uses cookies to analyze how people interact with services, which can reveal that a task takes too long, so it can redesign the feature.
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we can use information from your devices to help you decide which device you’d like to use to install an app or view a movie you buy from Google Play
We also use this information to help protect your account.
we analyze how people interact with advertising to improve the performance of our ads
if we find something wrong with a specific feature, reviewing activity information collected before the problem started allows us to fix things more quickly
we use cookies to analyze how people interact with our services
Use & Processing · Company practice
You may see personalized ads based on information from an advertiser, such as your visit to its website
Google says you may also see personalized ads based on information from the advertiser. For example, if you shopped on an advertiser's website, that advertiser can use the visit information to show you ads.
Supporting quotations
You may also see personalized ads based on information from the advertiser.
If you shopped on an advertiser's website, for example, they can use that visit information to show you ads.
Use & Processing · User right or choice
With Personalized Recommendations on, results use your past activity; signed-out customization can be turned off
Google explains that when you are signed in to your Google Account and have the Personalized Recommendations in Search services control enabled, you can get more relevant search results based on your previous searches and activity from other Google services. You may also get customized search results even when signed out. If you do not want that level of customization, you can search and browse privately or turn off signed-out search customization.
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when you’re signed in to your Google Account and have the Personalized Recommendations in Search services control enabled, you can get more relevant search results that are based on your previous searches and activity from other Google services
You may also get customized search results even when you’re signed out.
If you don’t want this level of search customization, you can
Qualifications & exceptions
Signed-in personalization depends on the control being enabled; signed-out customization happens unless you turn it off or browse privately.
Use & Processing · Company commitment
Ad topics come from your activity, and Google says it excludes sensitive categories and requires the same of advertisers
Google explains that when showing personalized ads it uses topics it thinks might interest you based on your activity, such as "Cooking and Recipes" or "Air Travel". It says it does not use topics or show personalized ads based on sensitive categories like race, religion, sexual orientation or health, and that it requires the same from advertisers that use its services.
Supporting quotations
When showing you personalized ads, we use topics that we think might be of interest to you based on your activity.
We don’t use topics or show personalized ads based on sensitive categories like race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.
require the same from advertisers
Qualifications & exceptions
The limit is stated for personalized ads and topics, not for all uses of such information.
Use & Processing · Company practice
Gmail suggests addresses based on the people you contact most frequently
As an example of using information about the people who matter most to you online, Google says that when you type an address in the To, Cc or Bcc field of an email you are composing, Gmail will suggest addresses based on the people you contact most frequently.
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when you type an address in the To, Cc, or Bcc field of an email you're composing, Gmail will suggest addresses based on the people you