there is a remote controlled ai agent on every google device that can not be turned off
since yesterday.. oop: https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/114816283089805862
haven't found a public google announcement, the screenshot seems to be from emails
Op please change the title as to not further fuel the misinformation. Arstechnica seems to enjoy burying the actual information 3 paragraphs in where they know nobody will read them and your embellishments aren't helping.
Edit: Title when this comment was written for posterity:
there is a remote controlled ai agent on every google device that can not be turned off
Yeah, I like Ars, but this article is fearmongering trash. It's actually a positive move for privacy. "Gemini Apps Activity" is a setting that allows Google to store your Gemini interactions for analytics, human review, etc..., generally a privacy nightmare. However, with it off, Gemini can't even do basic stuff like setting a reminder. It's just a nonsense-spewing LLM with no assistant functionality. This update allows you to turn it off while still being able to do useful assistant stuff.
Google could have worded things better, but this is a move in the right direction.
Wrong. There is no AI agent on my Pixel 8 Pro running GrapheneOS.
Graphene FTW
I was quite happy still running my Samsung S22, then all this shit started to get rammed in (plus Samsung keyboard was constantly pasting my clipboard even though I wasn't using it).
Anyway, I bought a Pixel 9 explicitly for GrapheneOS - the installation was so incredibly easy I was really surprised.
How can we spy on you if you turn it off.
More like how can they spy on you if you don't manually install this agent that does exactly what it's described to do but facts don't matter anymore I guess 🤷♂️
It likely installed in the background as a hidden 'app'. No user interaction required.
Right! because this is the only app that Google is spying on you. what agent are you talking about? does exactly what? how do you know?
And all of google's history and business model totally doesn't matter, I guess.
Try harder… or not. 🤷♂️
You can turn it off by disabling or uninstalling the app. Not trying to defend google here, but for clarity "whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off" refers to the app not following standard android procedure for killing background processes from how i understand it. So you actually have to fully disable it in the system settings, not just swipe it away.
Nope. It's a user space app not tied to services. You just uninstall the app.
It's only an issue if it comes pre installed via retailer or manufacter. This includes pixels.
I assume it will be force fed to users on all commercial Android 16 phones soon.
Edit:
Fuck, I'm wrong, you’re right. I must have spot checked the Gemini fan club or something out of my end users. Still don't know how all our luddite inter-office mail couriers got it.
Looks like Google has added a Gemini options page to Android settings regardless of the app install, which is where my confusion on my own device came from.
I just want to be able to talk to my phone to set reminders and alarms. I used to be able to do this with the assistant. Now it's this invasive AI thing, and I do not have a replacement. :-(
You should be able to go back to the old assistant: It should be in your Google app settings under Gemini settings > 'assistants from google’ and toggle back to the old assistant.
For how long this will remain doable I don't know.
Just goes to show how EULAs are nonensical legalese and as such unenforceable in and by any (sane) court.
They must have had an AI write that.
So, what this seems to be saying, and what is reflected in the settings screens I can access on devices I have at hand, is that Gemini will still have (limited) functionality hooking jnto certain apps even if you've disabled "Gemini App history".
The app is being pushed through normal updates via Google Play (by your carrier or Google itself). In some cases the app can be uninstalled by the end user through the normal UI, and in other cases it installs as a system app and requires adb to be used to disable and/or uninstall it.
EDIT: FALSE, GOOGLE HAS NOT PUSHED THE APP OUT YET, JUST A SETTINGS PAGE
As always, the most secure way to use android is through a custom locked down ROM like Graphene OS.
I have all of these settings off, but it's still summarizing my emails and offering to add it to my calendar because there are no conflicting events.
Can I use an ai to mask my activity?
Is the Pixel 3 old enough that I'm out of range of this bullshit?
Feed The Google AI. Starve the old beast, feed the new. Mbas raise gremlins.
ok what phone should I get next
Anything compatible with Graphene OS (https://grapheneos.org/); a second-hand Pixel will work best, if you can find one cheap. I use it as my daily driver on a Pixel 7a and it's great; it's the most stable and easiest-to-install custom ROM I've ever used, and I've been rooting my Android devices for over a decade now.
So my Fairphone is not supported because the security updates aren't good enough. Serves me right trying to find an ethical approach to mobile computing.
I understand GrapheneOS' philosophy but buying a google product to get away from google software is certainly... a choice. Refurbished or not buying a Pixel would serve Google's interests, nevermind the fact that I bought my current phone a couple years ago hoping to get close to a decade of use out of it.
Realistically software freedom on mobile phones is doomed until the industry improves the firmware situation. Every project suffers from severe drawbacks because of it.
Does it support banking apps yet? Last time I tried it anything to do with financials, Bitwarden, or 2FA just didn't work at all.
Edit: and I've heard you can get Google play store on it now right? Cause I'll need all of my apps back
Is there an easy way to migrate everything into graphene or do I have to start fresh?
If your current device supports LineageOS, you can install that. I've got no traces of Gemini on my Pixel 7, even with "gapps" installed.
Ham radio.
refurbished pixel > version 8, and graphene and pray android stays open source, otherwise idk brickphone for emergency only tbh
I’m considering a pine phone, but honestly idk.
Ideally none at all. A linux phone if you have to have one.
We can't all be Jack White. I've tried. You cannot live in this society with no phone. Unless you have no friends and no job.
what's a linux phone? I thought android was written on Linux
one that supports calyx os
A pixel. It comes without Gemini pre-installed. That or any phone on the planet without Gemini installed on Android. So the vast majority of them.
What about Gemini Space (aka Ambient Data) that's tied to Android System Intelligence - which is a system app enabled by default that can be disabled (if you know how to disable system apps) but of course cannot be uninstalled.
Also google is planning to replace Assistant with Gemini in the near future so all phones that have assistant (which is again enabled by default on most if not all android phones) will get Gemini sooner or later.
Check again. If you've got a pixel, you might have to go into your apps and use the search function to find it. It installs and hides itself as of some recent update.
It depends on whether you're using apps that require Play Integrity attestation, like some banking apps do.
If that's the case, consider the humble iPhone!
Apple likes to pretend they aren't evil since they're just evil in a different way than google.