Google is expanding what it saves from your searches, including Lens photos, Translate audio, and voice recordings, and will use that data to train its AI models.
The company announced two new settings via email to users. The first, "Search Services History," captures media from your searches: images you run through Google Lens, audio you speak into Translate, voice queries, and other uploaded files. A companion setting, "Personalized Recommendations," draws on that history along with your profile and cross-app activity to customize results, including AI-generated responses. Both cover Search, Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News and will roll out over the next few months; existing Web & App Activity opt-outs carry over to the new settings automatically.
The settings are on by default, which means users who want to limit collection need to take action. The "Save Media" toggle within Search Services History stops new media from being stored, but it does not delete what Google has already collected — a separate "View and delete saved history" step handles that.
Google calling expanded data collection a "personalization" feature is well-worn territory; what's new is that voice and image searches are now explicitly named in the AI training pipeline.