Newsletter

• Google began to launch the enhanced auto-fill feature for Chrome on October 28th, allowing Gemini to search for users' Gmail in order to extract order numbers, logistics tracking information, and flight booking details to fill out web forms.
• This feature is available to users in the United States who have enabled Personal Intelligence and includes Gemini, in, and Chrome. It is supported on desktop platforms, as well as Android and iOS.
• Google claims that sensitive data has been encrypted, and users can manage this feature in the Chrome settings; however, its announcement does not list credit cards or addresses as data extracted from Gmail.

Google stated in a announcement on Wednesday that its Chrome browser can now extract personal information from users' Gmail inboxes to help fill out online forms.

This update is titled "Enhanced Autofill" ( enhanced autofill ). Chrome Product Manager Amanda Lim wrote in the announcement that when a form requires the entry of relevant information, this feature will suggest order numbers, logistics tracking details, and flight booking information. Autofill is a tool in browsers that can automatically enter names, addresses, and other information, eliminating the need for users to fill them in manually.

This feature is driven by Google's AI assistant Gemini, and relies on a function called Personal Intelligence. This feature allows Gemini to call upon information from connected applications such as Gmail and Google Photos, thereby customizing responses based on the user's own life experiences. It is now being rolled out to users who have enabled Personal Intelligence on their Gemini, in, and Chrome devices, covering both desktop and Android as well as iOS platforms, with the initial launch taking place in the United States.

Google only mentioned the aforementioned three types of data from Gmail in the article. Credit card numbers and addresses are part of the automatic filling standard of Chrome, which comes from information saved by users in their browsers; the announcement did not indicate that the new feature would extract this content from users' emails.

Lim writes: 'You can use Chrome to set whether enhanced auto-fill is enabled and which data it can access. As before, sensitive data will be encrypted, and the control remains in your hands.'

Encryption disrupts the data content, making it readable only to Google and other authorized parties. However, this article does not explain how this applies to the content of Gmail that Chrome reads, nor does it specify what content it scans.

In March of this year, when Google expanded Personal Intelligence to free users in the United States, it stated: " Gemini and AI Mode, which are built on the concept of privacy protection, will not be trained directly based on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos database." AI Mode refers to the AI driving experience in Google Search.

The article states that users can choose whether to connect to these applications on their own and can disconnect at any time. However, Google does train its models based on limited information, such as specific prompts and the responses given by the models.

In November last year, users expressed opposition to a Smart Features setting. This setting allowed Gemini to analyze email and calendar content, unless users actively chose to opt out. Google stated at the time that its underlying data processing practices had not changed.

Google also revised its privacy policy, which came into effect on October 16th. A new exception was added to its commitment not to use content from Gmail, Drive, and Photos for advertising: if users choose to provide this data to other Google services that support personalized advertising, then personalized ads can utilize this data. Google stated that by default, this content will not be used for ad targeting, and advertisers will not have access to the content from Gmail, Drive, or Photos.

Chrome also removed a statement in the settings. The original statement stated that local devices AI – that is, models running on the user's own computer rather than on Google servers – would not send data to Google servers during operation. Google stated that this change in wording does not represent a change in the way it handles local devices AI.

This feature was launched on Wednesday for the desktop version in the United States, as well as on Android and iOS. Google's announcement did not provide a timeline for its rollout in other countries.