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Gmail used to be a tradeoff.
Less privacy. More convenience.
That balance is changing.
Google is now pushing deeper AI features into Gmail. These features require broader access to message content. Not metadata only. Content.
- For most people, this is noise.
- For high-profile individuals, it is signal.
If your name, movements, relationships, or finances have value to outsiders, your email is already part of the attack surface.
AI-driven analysis widens that surface.
What actually changed
This is not about one toggle.
It is about direction.
- Email content is increasingly scanned to power AI features
- Data is retained to improve systems over time
- Aggregation risk grows, even when data is “anonymized”
- Subpoena and discovery value increases with scale
None of this aligns with a high-risk threat model.
The real problem
The issue is not that Google is reckless.
The issue is that Gmail is built for…
