Sharing our data privacy commitments for the AI era

More and more companies want to adopt the latest cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies, but they are subject to an increasing array of data privacy regulations. This is an important concern for customers, who are interested in using AI and ML systems to drive better business outcomes while complying with new data privacy laws.

Today we’re outlining how our AI/ML Privacy Commitment reflects our belief that customers should have both the highest level of security and the highest level of control over data stored in the cloud. As Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian recently shared, we have heavily invested in providing customers with the capabilities they need to prevent unauthorized access to their data. 

“This [AI/ML Privacy Commitment] is the first of its kind in the industry, and demonstrates the company's focus on building trust with customers,” said Nick McQuire, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Research - CCS Insight 

We have always maintained that you control your data and we process it according to the agreement(s) we have with you. Furthermore, we will not and cannot look at it without a legitimate need to support your use of the service -- and even then it is only with your permission. Here are some of the additional measures we take to ensure your privacy: (reference: GCP Terms).

In addition to these commitments, for AI/ML development, we don’t use data that you provide us to train our own models without your permission. And if you want to work together to develop a solution using any of our AI/ML products, by default our teams will work only with data that you have provided and that has identifying information removed. We work with your raw data only with your consent and where the model development process requires it. 

At Google Cloud, we are committed to giving you increased control and visibility over your data. Transparency creates trust, and trust is necessary for any business to succeed in this arena. That’s why we led the way in providing meaningful transparency into provider access to customer data and now we’re extending that transparency to our AI and ML work. Helping you address global privacy and data protection requirements enables you to apply machine learning to accelerate your business with confidence.  

"Google Cloud's AI/ML Privacy Commitment is the latest move by the company to ensure its customers have greater control and visibility over their data in the cloud...This commitment also underscores the importance of proactive policies and tools to enable security and privacy in machine learning, which based on our data, is more important than ever,” CCS Insight’s McQuire continued. 

To learn more about our three pillars of sovereignty in Google Cloud, see this blog post.  And to learn more about Google Cloud’s commitment to more accountable products and a culture of responsible innovation, please see our perspective on Responsible AI.