Safe to let Google have my data?

[Dave-in-Decatur]

OK, last minute question, but here goes. I'm extremely reluctant to give Google my Fitbit data (and have even less interest in uploading my medical records to them to "have everything in one place"). I've seen all the promises (which the European Commission forced them to make) about not using data for Google Ads. That's nice; but what about the things they don't talk about? Is there anywhere a commitment not to sell our data? Not to use it to train AI models? It is completely unbelievable that Google is not intending to monetize Fitbit users' data in some way. It's what they do. And once they've sold it or fed it into an AI model, we can change our minds and delete the data, but it's already gone.

So: is anyone aware of any commitment by Google not to sell Fitbit data to third parties, or use it for AI training?

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Ah, here it is, from Introducing the Google Health app, footnote 1, with highlights added:

Google Health can use your personal health records to personalize coaching responses in the Google Health app to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle and to help you make lifestyle improvements. Google Health Coach is an artificial intelligence product. Artificial intelligence answers may be inaccurate or incomplete. Google Health is not intended to use your personal health records to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent, or monitor any disease or condition. Consult your healthcare professional before making changes concerning your health. Personal Health Records stored with Google may not be comprehensive or accurate. Always consult your doctor for medical advice or for an official copy of your health records for clinical or government purposes.

So, yes, our health data will be fed into an AI model (see Google working on 'AI health coach' for better sleep, stress, and fitness | Health News - Business S... from last fall) to personalize suggestions. The question is, what else might have access to that model?

[Julia_G]

Agreed that it is definitely using your data to train AI - that’s actually the whole point of AI - it learns from what you tell it. 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

I also asked about this in the Google support forums, specifically WRT whether our data might be accessed, even indirectly, after being fed into the Gemini health model. I got this helpful and encouraging response from someone who seems to know what he's talking about:

The Gemini features used in your health dashboard (now rebranding as part of the Google Health Coach App ecosystem) run on a personal intelligence layer. This layer acts as a one-way mirror: Gemini can see your health data only to generate private, hyper-personalized advice back to you. It does not feed those logs back into the global, base foundational models used to answer public queries.