Google's Privacy Blunder: Users’ private conversations with Bard AI exposed in Google Search results

Google's conversational AI tool, Bard, just received a substantial update, drawing conflicting reactions from users. A more urgent problem has, however, just surfaced. Gagan Ghotra, an SEO specialist, observed that Google Search had begun showing Bard conversational links in its Search results.

Concerns regarding the disclosure of possibly private or secret information that should have remained secure were raised by this development.

Google Search indexing shared Bard conversations

Users of Bard have the option to share a link to a chat with a chosen third person, such as a friend, spouse, or business colleague, such as when discussing the contents of private emails.

However, it has been discovered that Google's search engine started indexing these correlated Bard conversational links. This implies that the conversations—which were supposed to be private—might end up being made available to the whole public via Google search results.

Clarification from Google Brain Research Scientist

Peter J. Liu, Google Brain Research Scientist, stated that Google Search indexing only applied to discussions that users had specifically chosen to publish via a link in response to Gagan Ghotra's concerns.

It wasn't a comprehensive index of every communication between Bard. Ghotra argued that many users might not have been aware that posting a conversation link would cause Google to crawl it and make it visible in search results.

Google's response and resolution

Bard allows users to share chats, but it was not meant for these shared chats to be indexed by Google Search. According to the Google Search Liaison Account on X (formerly Twitter), which offers insights into how Google Search works. Google is actively trying to stop these public talks from being indexed.

Implications for Google's AI ambitions

The incident has caused some people to have doubts about Bard and Google’s plans for consumer AI, especially in light of the fierce competition like OpenAI ChatGPT.

It emphasises how crucial privacy and security are in conversational technologies powered by AI. Gemini, Google’s future AI, might provide a more individualised and enhanced user experience.

What to expect if Google is doing so? Concerns about privacy have increased as a result of Google Search scanning shared Bard chats. While Google is attempting to resolve this problem, it serves as a reminder of the significance of protecting user data and making sure that conversational tools powered by AI give priority to privacy and security.

Companies like Google must continue to be diligent and aggressive in safeguarding user information and upholding trust as a tech giant.