AI at WorkGemini privacy: Keep Activity, temporary chats and human review
Google explains Gemini's data handling in detail. Three facts matter most: how long chats are kept, that people may review some of them, and that Temporary Chat exists.
What we read
Google's "Gemini Apps Privacy Hub" help page, read on 13 November 2026. It is long and has many questions; we summarise the parts that matter for work.
Keep Activity and auto-delete
When Keep Activity is on, your chats and what you share with Gemini (such as uploads) are saved in your Activity, and are used to improve Google services by default, according to the page. Your activity is auto-deleted after 18 months by default. You can change this in Gemini Apps Activity to 3 months, 36 months or indefinite, and you can delete chats at any time.
Human review
The page says human reviewers (including trained reviewers from Google's service providers) review some of the data collected. It asks you not to enter confidential information that you would not want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve its services. Chats reviewed by human reviewers, and related data like language, device type, location information or feedback, are not deleted when you delete your activity; they are retained for up to three years, disconnected from your Google Account.
If Keep Activity is off, and Temporary Chat
Temporary chats, and chats you have when Keep Activity is off, are retained with your account for 72 hours. They are used to respond to you (using the last 24 hours of the chat as context) and to protect Google, its users and the public; Google stores them for 72 hours in case of a system failure. Temporary chats are not used to train Google's AI models, and if Keep Activity is off and you do not submit feedback, Google also says it does not use future chats to improve its AI models. Even with Keep Activity off, the page says Google still uses chats to respond to you and to protect Google, with help from human reviewers.
Memory and personalisation
A separate Memory setting lets Gemini use information from past chats to personalise answers. The page says that Gemini may use sensitive information you gave in chats to personalise your experience if Memory is on, and you can start a Temporary Chat for information you do not want Gemini to remember. You can view, edit and delete the memory summary.
Where to change things
Gemini Apps Activity (review and delete activity, change auto-delete, control whether data is used to improve Google AI), your Google Account data and privacy page, the Connected Apps settings (what Gemini can access in other apps), and Your Public Links (shared chats).
A safe setup for work
- Decide whether you want Keep Activity on. If not, turn it off; remember the 72-hour retention and human review notes above.
- Use Temporary Chat for sensitive questions.
- Shorten auto-delete to 3 months if you keep it on.
- Do not share chats publicly if they contain private details.
- If you use a Google Workspace account at work or school, your administrator's settings and terms may differ from the personal ones described here.
Does deleting my activity delete everything?
The page says reviewed chats are retained for up to three years, disconnected from your account, even after you delete your activity.
Are Gemini chats used for ads?
The page has a question on this. Read it in the page for the current answer, since advertising policies change.
Sources
Read on 13 and 14 November 2026. Pages change; open the original before you rely on a statement.
This is an independent guide. It is not connected with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft or any other AI company; product names belong to their owners. Statements about companies are taken from their own help pages as read on 13 and 14 November 2026. The prompts are our own wording and were not run against every tool. Not legal, financial or professional advice.