{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-11-01T11:17:30.556Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"google-drive","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":2,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2024-gemini-in-google-drive-summarised-users-opened-tax-return-unrequested-with-summary-settings-off-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Just pulled up my tax return in @Google Docs--and unbidden, Gemini summarized it'; 'appears this is happening with any PDF of mine that I open from Drive'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Just pulled up my tax return in @Google Docs--and unbidden, Gemini summarized it'; 'this is supposedly happening within the larger umbrella of Google Drive and not Google Docs specifically'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The account holder says that on 10 July 2024 he opened his tax return and Gemini summarised it without his asking; his later testing in the thread places this in the PDF viewer of Google Drive.","causal_attribution":"Account holder's own report of the AI output; the summary itself was not inspected."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'and it was already turned off! Yet Gemini is absolutely giving me document summaries'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'only to find that Gemini summaries in Gmail, Drive, and Docs were already disabled'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'found the control, which was already disabled'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"He says the setting meant to keep Gemini out of his documents was already turned off while Gemini kept giving him document summaries.","causal_attribution":"Account holder's report; why the setting did not apply is not established."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'So I asked Gemini to point me to the settings. This is what it said. Tried both, neither works'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'AI chatbot on two occasions to pinpoint the settings'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"He says he asked Gemini where the setting was and neither of the two locations it gave worked.","causal_attribution":"Account holder's report of Gemini's replies."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'If you ever used Gemini with a particular PDF, it will re-invoke for every other PDF you load until you close it again'; 'My working theory until Google can clarify is that using Workplace Labs overrode the explicit setting turning off Workplace integrations of Gemini'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'He additionally theorizes that it may have been caused by him enabling Google Workspace Labs back in 2023'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'ativou essas funcionalidades em 2023, antes de elas serem liberadas para todos os usu'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"In later posts he says that once Gemini was used with one PDF it was invoked again for every PDF he opened until closed, and puts forward a working theory that his 2023 Workspace Labs sign-up overrode the opt-out.","causal_attribution":"The account holder's own explanation, offered as a theory; it bears on whether he had enabled the feature."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I just went to the chat logs to delete the doc that was uploaded and the summary given in response'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"He says that when he went to his Gemini activity to delete the uploaded document and the summary, they were not shown there.","causal_attribution":"Account holder's report; what Google retained is not established."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to proactively enable it'; 'may have used Gemini via the side panel in Drive and that closing the panel might solve the issue'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'Using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to proactively enable it'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"A Google spokesperson said that using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to enable it proactively and that content is not otherwise stored without permission; Tom's Hardware reports Google suggested he may have used Gemini through the Drive side panel and that closing it might solve the issue.","causal_attribution":"Google's statement disputes that the processing was unconsented."}],"effects":[{"label":"private tax return summarised by Gemini without the account holder's request while his opt-out setting was off (his account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://x.com/KevinBankston/status/1811075836558114968","kind":"social_media_post","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01: the first post through the fxtwitter API (HTTP 200) and the whole 36-post thread through the Thread Reader App unroll (threadreaderapp.com, HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. Attached screenshots were not inspected.","independence_group":"technology-adviser-x-thread-gemini-drive-summary"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/gemini-ai-caught-scanning-google-drive-hosted-pdf-files-without-permission-user-complains-feature-cant-be-disabled","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200); no translation. Relays the thread and carries Google's statement and suggestion to Tom's Hardware.","independence_group":"technology-adviser-x-thread-gemini-drive-summary"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/gemini-ai-platform-caught-scanning-google-drive-files-without-user-permission","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200); no translation. Relays the thread and carries the same Google statement.","independence_group":"technology-adviser-x-thread-gemini-drive-summary"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/gemini-le-documento-salvo-no-google-drive-contra-a-vontade-de-usuario/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"pt","translation_note":"Read in Portuguese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-11-01 (HTTP 200); passages translated by the research agent, no human translator. Relays the thread and carries the same Google statement sent to Google Brasil's press office.","independence_group":"technology-adviser-x-thread-gemini-drive-summary"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["privacy","finance","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the account holder had enabled Gemini for Drive at some point, through Workspace Labs or an earlier use of the side panel.","Why the opt-out setting did not stop the summaries, and whether Google changed anything after the report.","Whether Google retained the document content or the summary."],"geography":{"basis":"No inspected source states where the account holder was when he opened the document; his employer's location does not locate the event. No country is inferred.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-10-06 privacy clarification and the public-forum rule as a first-person account of a private financial document processed by an AI assistant without the person's request and against an opt-out setting. Claims are attributed to the account holder; Google's statement and his own alternative explanations are recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-11-01"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The account holder says Gemini generated a summary of his tax return when he opened it, without his request, while the setting meant to keep Gemini out of his documents was off; the unrequested processing of his private financial document by the AI assistant is the reported privacy harm. Google says Gemini in Workspace must be enabled by the user, and the account holder himself suggests an earlier Workspace Labs sign-up or an earlier use of the side panel may explain it, so whether he had enabled the feature is disputed.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["received_personal_information"]},"name":"AI governance adviser says Gemini in Google Drive summarised his tax return unrequested while its summary setting was off; Google says users must enable Gemini","summary":"In a thread on X on 10 July 2024, an AI governance adviser wrote that he had just opened his tax return and that Gemini, Google's AI assistant, summarised it without being asked. He wrote that he could not find a setting to stop it, that the two locations Gemini itself suggested did not work, and that when another user showed him the setting meant to keep Gemini out of his documents it was already turned off while Gemini kept giving document summaries. His later testing, in the same thread, suggested that once Gemini had been opened for one PDF in Google Drive it was invoked again for every PDF he opened until he closed it, and he put forward a working theory that his 2023 sign-up for Workspace Labs had overridden the opt-out. A Google spokesperson told technology outlets that using Gemini in Google Workspace requires a user to enable it proactively and that content is not stored without permission; Tom's Hardware reports that Google suggested he may have used Gemini through the Drive side panel and that closing the panel might solve the issue.","incidentDate":"2024-07-10","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2024-07-10","aiSystem":"Gemini assistant in Google Workspace (Google Drive PDF viewer side panel and Google Docs), as described by the account holder","aiProduct":"Gemini (reported)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The account holder says Gemini summarised his private tax return when he opened it, without his request and while the setting meant to keep Gemini out of his documents was off (first-person account; Google says Gemini in Workspace must be enabled by the user).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the account holder whose own tax return was summarised. His question about how many other people were affected is a question, not a count.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://x.com/KevinBankston/status/1811075836558114968","primarySourceLabel":"Thread on X by the account holder, 10 Jul 2024: Gemini summarised his tax return unbidden; opt-out setting found already off","firstPublishedAt":"2026-11-01T03:07:17.532166+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-11-01T03:07:17.532166+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","x-twitter","gemini","google-drive","privacy","consent","opt-out-setting"]}]}