Are Authors’ Drafts in Google Docs Feeding AI?

We’ve all been hearing the rumors about AI and if Google is using our writing to train their systems. The conspiracy theories run rampant on social media groups where the pitch forks and fire torches come out from the mob of any mention of it. “Oh no! The evil AI monster that is stealing artist work!”

It’s become nothing more than a witch hunt in many circles to even mention AI. But are we really at threat for our work to be stolen simply by using Google Docs?

The short answer… no.

According to Google’s official policy, they do not use content from Google Docs or their other services to train their AI models. What you write in Docs stays private, unless you share it or make it public. More information on this policy can be found in their help center.

Google does use public web data, but not your personal files stored in Drive or Docs. So, if you’re writing your novel, don’t worry, you’re safe as long as you have it set to private. If this changes in the future is unsure. Time will tell.

But where did people start getting the misinformation?

In the context of AI, data scraping refers to when companies collect information from public websites to train AI models, often without permission. Scraping only applies to public content like websites, not private files. And yes, that too is concerning.

That said, it is possible for these documents to be used, but only if you have them set to public. But why would you? Most authors aren’t putting there documents on pubic display until the day they are released in book form. Even sending them to editors and Beta readers they are still set to private.

I believe this misunderstanding came from the mention of Document AI in some of the information provided by Google that made this confusing. They don’t actually mention what this is in the statement about if they use AI, and most people don’t read beyond that to find out more.

Here’s the truth. Document AI is a separate Google Cloud service used by businesses to process scanned documents, invoices, forms, and PDFs. The unclear terminology confused and scared already nervous authors into believing that our work was being skimmed from our documents to feed the beast.

This tool has nothing to do with your regular Docs files and is a paid service most of us would never have any use for. Writing a novel in Google Docs won’t ever touch Document AI. That’s where the confusion comes from, but for most users, it’s not even relevant.

What can we do to insure our work is safe?

If you want to make sure your work isn’t being scraped by AI models, keep your documents private. We don’t know if in the future they may scan your files, but the chances are very slim.

Let’s face the reality of it. Most people’s Google Docs don’t contain content valuable enough to train advanced AI models. Much of what’s written in the early drafts of a fiction novel is simply not polished or relevant enough to be useful for AI training. Even if your writing is amazing, they are not going to bother.

From a programmer’s perspective, spending time and resources on using incomplete and unedited writing would be a waste of time. The idea that Google would mine your everyday Google Docs isn’t very practical and the witch hunt loses all credibility.

Still worried?

Set your Google Docs to be viewed by only you. If you’re worried about your writing being seen or used without your permission, double check your privacy settings. By default, anything you create in Google Docs is already on this setting.

To be sure your files are set to private, find the “Share” button in the top right corner of the document, and make sure it’s set to “Restricted”. This will ensure that only people you’ve specifically granted access to can view or edit the document. 

In the short term it seems we may have worried over nothing. But in the future, who knows? AI is new and often confusing but it’s not worth stressing over. Just keep writing until that final draft is complete and sent out into the world.

Happy writing!