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What Other Features Do You Lose When You Turn Off AI in Your Google Account?

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Why This Matters

Disabling AI features in Google accounts can protect user privacy and reduce reliance on automated tools, but it also removes many convenient functionalities that enhance productivity and personalization. This trade-off highlights the growing influence of AI in everyday digital tools and the importance of user control. Consumers and the tech industry must weigh the benefits of AI-driven features against potential privacy concerns and usability impacts.

Key Takeaways

You can turn off most of Google’s AI features in your account. Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

If you somehow haven’t noticed yet, Google is injecting AI into virtually every product it has, bringing Gemini features to the likes of Gmail, Docs, and other tools that you might use everyday. All you need to do is look around any Google app and you’ll see a Gemini icon, but what if you don’t want any of the AI nonsense that’s being force-fed to you? Well, you’re in luck — sort of.

Google makes it fairly easy to reduce or remove AI features across your account, but it comes at a cost you may not want to pay for. Simple features that you may have relied on for years before Gemini came into view are tied to the settings you must disable in order to get rid of AI. And it’s hard to believe that this wasn’t done by design.

If you think you can deal without some conveniences, we’ll show you how to reduce or disable AI in your Google account below.

Turn off Google Workspace smart features

You can choose to turn off one or both sets of smart features for your Google account. Blake Stimac/CNET

Turning off Google Workspace smart features will have an immediate impact, but it won’t remove Gemini icons from the services. After all, Google needs a way for you to easily enable Gemini again — whether intentionally or by accident.

Disabling Google Workspace smart features will strip away a lot of AI features from Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides. It will also take away features that you might not want to give up, too. Do you like it when Google Calendar pulls an event in directly from Gmail? That’ll be gone. Priority sorting in Gmail? No more. You’ll also give up personalized search when using Google, making results less relevant to you.

If you’re determined to move forward, here’s how to do it:

Sign in to your Gmail account

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