GoKawiilThe Bard chatbot from Google has come under heavy criticism on the privacy front as shared conversations on the platform have made their way into Google Search results.
Google encourages its users to share their conversations with its AI bot on social media, and the tech giant also provides them with the option to create public links for sharing. However, an unintended consequence has led these conversations to be indexed by Google’s web crawlers.
In response to its latest issue over Bard, Google is taking steps to fix the issue and prevent Bard chats from appearing on SERPs.
At a time when privacy concerns over the use of generative AI have been raising eyebrows, the situation is a stark reminder of the challenges tech companies have on their way.
The latest round of controversy centers around the sharing feature of the Bard chatbot. The problem arises when Google Search accidentally indexed the public links, making them accessible to a wider audience than intended.
Google Says Public Links Can Be Removed
The shared links are designed to automatically expire in six months, adding a temporary layer of protection to the users.
In response to the allegations, Google suggested that the public links could be removed, which isn’t quite true if Google Search results show them. The company makes it clear that it can’t remove the content posted on third-party sites.
In this case, the issue lies in Google’s very own search service. A simple search using the “site:” operator reveals a list of shared Bard conversations that Google’s web crawler indexed.
These shared conversations don’t contain any personal information, and the identity of the creator remains anonymous. However, users may not be aware that their shared links can be captured and preserved in Google Search.
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