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If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. From their terms: https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/resources/privacy-notice-gemi

by ipsum2 1y ago

If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. From their terms: https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/resources/privacy-notice-gemini-code-assist-individuals https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/resources/p... When you use Gemini Code Assist for individuals, Google collects your prompts, related code, generated output, code edits, related feature usage information, and your feedback to provide, improve, and develop Google products and services and machine learning technologies. To help with quality and improve our products (such as generative machine-learning models), human reviewers may read, annotate, and process the data collected above. We take steps to protect your privacy as part of this process. This includes disconnecting the data from your Google Account before reviewers see or annotate it, and storing those disconnected copies for up to 18 months. Please don't submit confidential information or any data you wouldn't want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve our products, services, and machine-learning technologies.

jart 1y ago
Mozilla and Google provide an alternative called gemmafile which gives you an airgapped version of Gemini (which Google calls Gemma) that runs locally in a single file without any dependencies. https://huggingface.co/jartine/gemma-2-27b-it-llamafile https://huggingface.co/jartine/gemma-2-27b-it-llamafile It's been deployed into production by 32% of organizations: https://www.wiz.io/reports/the-state-of-ai-in-the-cloud-2025 https://www.wiz.io/reports/the-state-of-ai-in-the-cloud-2025
- nicce 1y ago
  That is just Gemma model. Most people seek capabilities equivalent for Gemini 2.5 Pro if they want to do any kind of coding.
  - jart 1y ago
    Gemma 27b can write working code in dozens of programming languages. It can even translate between languages. It's obviously not as good as Gemini, which is the best LLM in the world, but Gemma is built from the same technology that powers Gemini and Gemma is impressively good for something that's only running locally on your CPU or GPU. It's a great choice for airgapped environments. Especially if you use old OSes like RHEL5.
    - seunosewa 1y ago
      The technology that powers Gemini created duds until Gemini 2.5 Pro; 2.5 Pro is the prize.
    - nicce 1y ago
      It may be sufficient for generating serialized data and for some level of autocomplete but not for any serious agentic coding where you won't end up wasting time. Maybe some junior level programmers may find it still fascinating but senior level programmers end up fighting with bad design choices, poor algorithms and other verbose garbage most of the time. This happens even with the best models.
      - diggan 1y ago
        > senior level programmers end up fighting with bad design choices, poor algorithms and other verbose garbage most of the time. This happens even with the best models. Even senior programmers can misuse tools, happens to all of us. LLMs sucks at software design, choosing algorithms and are extremely crap unless you exactly tell them what to do and what not to do. I leave the designing to myself, and just use OpenAI and local models for implementation, and with proper system prompting you can get OK code. But you need to build up a base-prompt you can reuse, by basically describing what is good code for you, as it differs quite a bit from person to person. This is what I've been using as a base for agent use: https://gist.github.com/victorb/1fe62fe7b80a64fc5b446f82d3137398 https://gist.github.com/victorb/1fe62fe7b80a64fc5b446f82d313..., but need adjustments depending on the specific use case Although I've tried to steer Google's models in a similar way, most of them are still overly verbose and edit-happy, not sure if it's some Google practice that leaked through or something. Other models are way easier to stop from outputting so much superfluous code, and overall following system prompts.
    - ipsum2 1y ago
      I've spent a long time with models, gemma-3-27b feels distilled from Gemini 1.5. I think the useful coding abilities really started to emerge with 2.5.
- ipsum2 1y ago
  There's nothing wrong with promoting your own projects, but its a little weird that you don't disclose that you're the creator.
  - jart 1y ago
    It would be more accurate to say I packaged it. llamafile is a project I did for Mozilla Builders where we compiled llama.cpp with cosmopolitan libc so that LLMs can be portable binaries. https://builders.mozilla.org/ https://builders.mozilla.org/ Last year I concatenated the Gemma weights onto llamafile and called it gemmafile and it got hundreds of thousands of downloads. https://x.com/JustineTunney/status/1808165898743878108 https://x.com/JustineTunney/status/1808165898743878108 I currently work at Google on Gemini improving TPU performance. The point is that if you want to run this stuff 100% locally, you can. Myself and others did a lot of work to make that possible.
    - elbear 1y ago
      I keep meaning to investigate how I can use your tools to create single-file executables for Python projects, so thanks for posting and reminding me.
      - ahgamut 1y ago
        My early contributions to https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan were focused towards getting a single-file Python executable. I wanted my Python scripts to run on both Windows and Linux, and now they do. To try out Python, you can: wget https://cosmo.zip/pub/cosmos/bin/python -qO python.com chmod +x python.com ./python.com Adding pure-Python libraries just means downloading the wheel and adding files to the binary using the zip command: ./python.com -m pip download Click mkdir -p Lib && cd Lib unzip ../click*.whl cd .. zip -qr ./python.com Lib/ ./python.com # can now import click Cosmopolitan Libc provides some nice APIs to load arguments at startup, like cosmo_args() [1], if you'd like to run the Python binary as a specific program. For example, you could set the startup arguments to `-m datasette`. [1]: https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan/commit/4e9566cd3328626d903de3d10c8abfd2daef12d9#diff-8069dfa7a386e941d414eaa8289e33f62c9c94e471a705bdf1ed047509fc9e88 https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan/commit/4e9566cd3328626d...
rudedogg 1y ago
Insane to me there isn’t even an asterisk in the blog post about this. The data collection is so over the top I don’t think users suspect it because it’s just absurd. For instance Gemini Pro chats are trained on too. If this is legal, it shouldn’t be.
mattzito 1y ago
It's a lot more nuanced than that. If you use the free edition of Code Assist, your data can be used UNLESS you opt out, which is at the bottom of the support article you link to: "If you don't want this data used to improve Google's machine learning models, you can opt out by following the steps in Set up Gemini Code Assist for individuals." and then the link: https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/set-up-gemini#read-privacy-notice https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/set-up... If you pay for code assist, no data is used to improve. If you use a Gemini API key on a pay as you go account instead, it doesn't get used to improve. It's just if you're using a non-paid, consumer account and you didn't opt out. That seems different than what you described.
- ipsum2 1y ago
  Sorry, that's not correct. Did you check out the link? It doesn't describe the CLI, only the IDE. "You can find the Gemini Code Assist for individuals privacy notice and settings in two ways: - VS Code - IntelliJ "
  - tiahura 1y ago
    As a lawyer, I'm confused. I guess the key question is whether the Gemini CLI, when used with a personal Google account, is governed by the broader Gemini Apps privacy settings here? https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini?pli=1 https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini?pli=1 If so, it appears it can be turned off. However, my CLI activity isn't showing up there? Can someone from Google clarify?
    - mattzito 1y ago
      I am very much not a lawyer, and while I work for Google, I do not work on this, and this is just my plain language reading of the docs. When you look at the github repo for the gemini CLI: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/tree/main https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/tree/main At the bottom it specifies that the terms of service are dependent on the underlying mechanism that the user chooses to use to fulfill the requests. You can use code assist, gemini API, or Vertex AI. My layperson's perspective is that it's positioned as a wrapper around another service, whose terms you already have accepted/enabled. I would imagine that is separate from the Gemini app, the settings for which you linked to. Looking at my own settings, my searches on the gemini app appear, but none of my gemini API queries appear.
Workaccount2 1y ago
This is just for free use (individuals), for standard and enterprise they don't use the data. Which pretty much means if you are using it for free, they are using your data. I don't see what is alarming about this, everyone else has either the same policy or no free usage. Hell the surprising this is that they still let free users opt-out...
- thimabi 1y ago
  > everyone else has either the same policy or no free usage That’s not true. ChatGPT, even in the free tier, allows users to opt out of data sharing.
  - joshuacc 1y ago
    I believe they are talking about the OpenAI API, not ChatGPT.
  - aargh_aargh 1y ago
    This court decision begs to differ: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-appeal-new-york-times-suit-demand-asking-not-delete-any-user-chats-2025-06-06/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-appeal...
    - thimabi 1y ago
      That bears no relation to OpenAI using data for training purposes. Although the court’s decision is problematic, user data is being kept for legal purposes only, and OpenAI is not authorized to use it to train its models.
      - netdur 1y ago
        you must be naive to think OpenAI does not train on your data, Altman is infamous for deceiving claims.
        1y ago
nojito 1y ago
>If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. Not if you pay for it.
- reaperducer 1y ago
  >If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. Not if you pay for it. Today. In six months, a "Terms of Service Update" e-mail will go out to an address that is not monitored by anyone.
  - nojito 1y ago
    Sure but then you can stop paying. There's also zero chance they will risk paying customers by changing this policy.
  - mpalmer 1y ago
    This sort of facile cynicism doesn't contribute anything useful. Anyone can predict a catastrophe.
    - reaperducer 1y ago
      It would only be cynicism if it didn't happen all the time with seemingly every tech company, major and minor. This is just how things are these days. The track record of Google, and most of the rest of the industry, does not inspire confidence.
FiberBundle 1y ago
Do you honestly believe that the opt-out by Anthropic and Cursor means your code won't be used for training their models? Seems likely that they would rather just risk taking a massive fine for potentially solving software development than to let some competitor try it instead.
- rudedogg 1y ago
  Yes. The resulting class-action lawsuit would bankrupt the company, along with the reputation damage, and fines.
  - pera 1y ago
    > Anthropic cut up millions of used books to train Claude — and downloaded over 7 million pirated ones too, a judge said https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-cut-pirated-millions-used-books-train-claude-copyright-2025-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-cut-pirated-millio... It doesn't look like they care at all about the law though
    - pbhjpbhj 1y ago
      >Anthropic spent "many millions of dollars" buying used print books, then stripped off the bindings, cut the pages, and scanned them into digital files. The judge, Alsup J, ruled that this was lawful. So they cared at least a bit, enough to spend a lot of money buying books. But they didn't care enough not to acquire online libraries held apparently without proper licensing. >Alsup wrote that Anthropic preferred to "steal" books to "avoid 'legal/practice/business slog,' as cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei put it." Aside: using the term steal for copyright infringement is a particularly egregious misuse for a judge who should know that stealing requires denying others of the use of the stolen articles; something which copyright infringement via an online text repository simple could not do.
    - dghlsakjg 1y ago
      Using torrented books in a way that possibly (well, almost certainly) violates copyright law is a world of difference from going after your own customers (and revenue) in a way that directly violates the contract that you wrote and had them agree to.
mil22 1y ago
They really need to provide some clarity on the terms around data retention and training, for users who access Gemini CLI free via sign-in to a personal Google account. It's not clear whether the Gemini Code Assist terms are relevant, or indeed which of the three sets of terms they link at the bottom of the README.md apply here.
- fhinkel 1y ago
  Agree! We're working on it!
  - fhinkel 1y ago
    Hope this is helpful, just merged: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t...
    - mil22 1y ago
      Thank you, this is helpful, though I am left somewhat confused as a "1. Login with Google" user. * The first section states "Privacy Notice: The collection and use of your data are described in the Gemini Code Assist Privacy Notice for Individuals." That in turn states "If you don't want this data used to improve Google's machine learning models, you can opt out by following the steps in Set up Gemini Code Assist for individuals.". That page says to use the VS Code Extension to change some toggle, but I don't have that extension. It states the extension will open "a page where you can choose to opt out of allowing Google to use your data to develop and improve Google's machine learning models." I can't find this page. * Then later we have this FAQ: "1. Is my code, including prompts and answers, used to train Google's models? This depends entirely on the type of auth method you use. Auth method 1: Yes. When you use your personal Google account, the Gemini Code Assist Privacy Notice for Individuals applies. Under this notice, your prompts, answers, and related code are collected and may be used to improve Google's products, which includes model training." This implies Login with Google users have no way to opt out of having their code used to train Google's models. * But then in the final section we have: "The "Usage Statistics" setting is the single control for all optional data collection in the Gemini CLI. The data it collects depends on your account type: Auth method 1: When enabled, this setting allows Google to collect both anonymous telemetry (like commands run and performance metrics) and your prompts and answers for model improvement." This implies prompts and answers for model improvement are considered part of "Usage Statistics", and that "You can disable Usage Statistics for any account type by following the instructions in the Usage Statistics Configuration documentation." So these three sections appear contradictory, and I'm left puzzled and confused. It's a poor experience compared to competitors like GitHub Copilot, which make opting out of model training simple and easy via a simple checkbox in the GitHub Settings page - or Claude Code, where Anthropic has a policy that code will never be used for training unless the user specifically opts in, e.g. via the reporting mechanism. I'm sure it's a great product - but this is, for me, a major barrier to adoption for anything serious.
mil22 1y ago
There is some information on this buried in configuration.md under "Usage Statistics". They claim: *What we DON'T collect:* - *Personally Identifiable Information (PII):* We do not collect any personal information, such as your name, email address, or API keys. - *Prompt and Response Content:* We do not log the content of your prompts or the responses from the Gemini model. - *File Content:* We do not log the content of any files that are read or written by the CLI. https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/0915bf7d677504c28b079693a0fe1c853adc456e/docs/cli/configuration.md?plain=1#L418 https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/0915bf7d677...
- jdironman 1y ago
  I wonder what the legal difference between "collect" and "log" is.
  - kevindamm 1y ago
    Collection means it gets sent to a server, logging implies (permanent or temporary) retention of that data. I tried finding a specific line or context in their privacy policy to link to but maybe someone else can help me provide a good reference. Logging is a form of collection but not everything collected is logged unless mentioned as such.
- ipsum2 1y ago
  This is useful, and directly contradicts the terms and conditions for Gemini CLI (edit: if you use the personal account, then its governed under the Code Assist T&C). I wonder which one is true?
  - mil22 1y ago
    Where did you find the terms and conditions for Gemini CLI? In https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/README.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/README..., I find only links to the T&Cs for the Gemini API, Gemini Code Assist (a different product?), and Vertex AI.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
naiv 1y ago
Who cares, software has no value anymore.
- crat3r 1y ago
  Sarcasm? Weird statement if not. I still have yet to replace a single application with an LLM, except for (ironically?) Google search. I still use all the same applications as part of my dev work/stack as I did in the early 2020's. The only difference is occasionally using an LLM baked into to one of them but the reality is I don't do that much.
FL410 1y ago
To be honest this is by far the most frustrating part of the Gemini ecosystem, to me. I think 2.5 pro is probably the best model out there right now, and I'd love to use it for real work, but their privacy policies are so fucking confusing and disjointed that I just assume there is no privacy whatsoever. And that's with the expensive Pro Plus Ultra MegaMax Extreme Gold plan I'm on. I hope this is something they're working on making clearer.
- dmbche 1y ago
  If I'm being cynical, it's easy to either say "we use it" or "we don't touch it" but they'd lose everyone that cares about this question if they just said "we use it" - most beneficial position is to keep it as murky as possible. If I were you I'd assume they're using all of it for everything forever and act accordingly.
- ipsum2 1y ago
  In my own experience, 2.5 Pro 03-26 was by far the best LLM model at the time. The newer models are quantized and distilled (I confirmed this with someone who works on the team), and are a significantly worse experience. I prefer OpenAI O3 and o4-mini models to Gemini 2.5 Pro for general knowledge tasks, and Sonnet 4 for coding.
  - happycube 1y ago
    Gah, enforced enshittification with model deprecation is so annoying.
- UncleOxidant 1y ago
  For coding in my experience Claude Sonnet/Opus 4.0 is hands down better than Gemini 2.5. pro. I just end up fighting with Claude a lot less than I do with Gemini. I had Gemini start a project that involved creating a recursive descent parser for a language in C. It was full of segfaults. I'd ask Gemini to fix them and it would end up breaking something else and then we'd get into a loop. Finally I had Claude Sonnet 4.0 take a look at the code that Gemini had created. It fixed the segfaults in short order and was off adding new features - even anticipating features that I'd be asking for.
BryanLegend 1y ago
Some of my code is so bad I'm sure it will damage their models!
nprateem 1y ago
I'm not that bothered. Most of it came from Google or anthropic anyway
fnl 1y ago
How does that compare to Claude Code? How protected are you when using CC?
Buttons840 1y ago
Is this significantly different than what we agree to when we put code on GitHub?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
fhinkel 1y ago
Hey all, This is a really great discussion, and you've raised some important points. We realize the privacy policies for the Gemini CLI were confusing depending on how you log in, and we appreciate you calling that out. To clear everything up, we've put together a single doc that breaks down the Terms of Service and data policies for each account type, including an FAQ that covers the questions from this thread. Here’s the link: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t... Thanks again for pushing for clarity on this!
- HenriNext 1y ago
  Thanks, one more clarification please. The heading of point #3 seems to mention Google Workspace: "3. Login with Google (for Workspace or Licensed Code Assist users)". But the text content only talks about Code Assist: "For users of Standard or Enterprise edition of Gemini Code Assist" ... Could you clarify whether point #3 applies with login via Google Workspace Business accounts?
  - fhinkel 1y ago
    Yes it does.
- ipsum2 1y ago
  I think you did a good job CYA on this, but what people were really looking for was a way to opt-out of Google collecting code, similar to the opt-out process for the IDE is available.
  - dcreater 1y ago
    Yeah how is opt out of data collection not an option? This is what they mean by don't be evil and Google is proving yet again that they truly are
    - fhinkel 1y ago
      Usage statistics includes "your prompts and answers", see the last paragraph in the ToS. I have no idea why legal insists we write "statistics" rather than "data".
predkambrij 1y ago
seems to be straight "yes" with no opt-out. https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t...
fastball 1y ago
Kinda a tragedy of the commons situation. Everyone wants to use these tools that must be trained on more and more code to get better, but nobody wants it to be trained on their code. Bit silly imo.
learner007 1y ago
good to know, I won't be using this. Curious, do you know if OpenAI codex and Claude also do the same? I was under the impression that they don't share code.

by ipsum2 1y ago

jart 1y ago

Mozilla and Google provide an alternative called gemmafile which gives you an airgapped version of Gemini (which Google calls Gemma) that runs locally in a single file without any dependencies. https://huggingface.co/jartine/gemma-2-27b-it-llamafile https://huggingface.co/jartine/gemma-2-27b-it-llamafile It's been deployed into production by 32% of organizations: https://www.wiz.io/reports/the-state-of-ai-in-the-cloud-2025 https://www.wiz.io/reports/the-state-of-ai-in-the-cloud-2025

nicce 1y ago
That is just Gemma model. Most people seek capabilities equivalent for Gemini 2.5 Pro if they want to do any kind of coding.
- jart 1y ago
  Gemma 27b can write working code in dozens of programming languages. It can even translate between languages. It's obviously not as good as Gemini, which is the best LLM in the world, but Gemma is built from the same technology that powers Gemini and Gemma is impressively good for something that's only running locally on your CPU or GPU. It's a great choice for airgapped environments. Especially if you use old OSes like RHEL5.
  - seunosewa 1y ago
    The technology that powers Gemini created duds until Gemini 2.5 Pro; 2.5 Pro is the prize.
  - nicce 1y ago
    It may be sufficient for generating serialized data and for some level of autocomplete but not for any serious agentic coding where you won't end up wasting time. Maybe some junior level programmers may find it still fascinating but senior level programmers end up fighting with bad design choices, poor algorithms and other verbose garbage most of the time. This happens even with the best models.
    - diggan 1y ago
      > senior level programmers end up fighting with bad design choices, poor algorithms and other verbose garbage most of the time. This happens even with the best models. Even senior programmers can misuse tools, happens to all of us. LLMs sucks at software design, choosing algorithms and are extremely crap unless you exactly tell them what to do and what not to do. I leave the designing to myself, and just use OpenAI and local models for implementation, and with proper system prompting you can get OK code. But you need to build up a base-prompt you can reuse, by basically describing what is good code for you, as it differs quite a bit from person to person. This is what I've been using as a base for agent use: https://gist.github.com/victorb/1fe62fe7b80a64fc5b446f82d3137398 https://gist.github.com/victorb/1fe62fe7b80a64fc5b446f82d313..., but need adjustments depending on the specific use case Although I've tried to steer Google's models in a similar way, most of them are still overly verbose and edit-happy, not sure if it's some Google practice that leaked through or something. Other models are way easier to stop from outputting so much superfluous code, and overall following system prompts.
  - ipsum2 1y ago
    I've spent a long time with models, gemma-3-27b feels distilled from Gemini 1.5. I think the useful coding abilities really started to emerge with 2.5.
ipsum2 1y ago
There's nothing wrong with promoting your own projects, but its a little weird that you don't disclose that you're the creator.
- jart 1y ago
  It would be more accurate to say I packaged it. llamafile is a project I did for Mozilla Builders where we compiled llama.cpp with cosmopolitan libc so that LLMs can be portable binaries. https://builders.mozilla.org/ https://builders.mozilla.org/ Last year I concatenated the Gemma weights onto llamafile and called it gemmafile and it got hundreds of thousands of downloads. https://x.com/JustineTunney/status/1808165898743878108 https://x.com/JustineTunney/status/1808165898743878108 I currently work at Google on Gemini improving TPU performance. The point is that if you want to run this stuff 100% locally, you can. Myself and others did a lot of work to make that possible.
  - elbear 1y ago
    I keep meaning to investigate how I can use your tools to create single-file executables for Python projects, so thanks for posting and reminding me.
    - ahgamut 1y ago
      My early contributions to https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan were focused towards getting a single-file Python executable. I wanted my Python scripts to run on both Windows and Linux, and now they do. To try out Python, you can: wget https://cosmo.zip/pub/cosmos/bin/python -qO python.com chmod +x python.com ./python.com Adding pure-Python libraries just means downloading the wheel and adding files to the binary using the zip command: ./python.com -m pip download Click mkdir -p Lib && cd Lib unzip ../click*.whl cd .. zip -qr ./python.com Lib/ ./python.com # can now import click Cosmopolitan Libc provides some nice APIs to load arguments at startup, like cosmo_args() [1], if you'd like to run the Python binary as a specific program. For example, you could set the startup arguments to `-m datasette`. [1]: https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan/commit/4e9566cd3328626d903de3d10c8abfd2daef12d9#diff-8069dfa7a386e941d414eaa8289e33f62c9c94e471a705bdf1ed047509fc9e88 https://github.com/jart/cosmopolitan/commit/4e9566cd3328626d...

rudedogg 1y ago

Insane to me there isn’t even an asterisk in the blog post about this. The data collection is so over the top I don’t think users suspect it because it’s just absurd. For instance Gemini Pro chats are trained on too. If this is legal, it shouldn’t be.

mattzito 1y ago

It's a lot more nuanced than that. If you use the free edition of Code Assist, your data can be used UNLESS you opt out, which is at the bottom of the support article you link to: "If you don't want this data used to improve Google's machine learning models, you can opt out by following the steps in Set up Gemini Code Assist for individuals." and then the link: https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/set-up-gemini#read-privacy-notice https://developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/set-up... If you pay for code assist, no data is used to improve. If you use a Gemini API key on a pay as you go account instead, it doesn't get used to improve. It's just if you're using a non-paid, consumer account and you didn't opt out. That seems different than what you described.

ipsum2 1y ago
Sorry, that's not correct. Did you check out the link? It doesn't describe the CLI, only the IDE. "You can find the Gemini Code Assist for individuals privacy notice and settings in two ways: - VS Code - IntelliJ "
- tiahura 1y ago
  As a lawyer, I'm confused. I guess the key question is whether the Gemini CLI, when used with a personal Google account, is governed by the broader Gemini Apps privacy settings here? https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini?pli=1 https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini?pli=1 If so, it appears it can be turned off. However, my CLI activity isn't showing up there? Can someone from Google clarify?
  - mattzito 1y ago
    I am very much not a lawyer, and while I work for Google, I do not work on this, and this is just my plain language reading of the docs. When you look at the github repo for the gemini CLI: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/tree/main https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/tree/main At the bottom it specifies that the terms of service are dependent on the underlying mechanism that the user chooses to use to fulfill the requests. You can use code assist, gemini API, or Vertex AI. My layperson's perspective is that it's positioned as a wrapper around another service, whose terms you already have accepted/enabled. I would imagine that is separate from the Gemini app, the settings for which you linked to. Looking at my own settings, my searches on the gemini app appear, but none of my gemini API queries appear.

Workaccount2 1y ago

This is just for free use (individuals), for standard and enterprise they don't use the data. Which pretty much means if you are using it for free, they are using your data. I don't see what is alarming about this, everyone else has either the same policy or no free usage. Hell the surprising this is that they still let free users opt-out...

thimabi 1y ago
> everyone else has either the same policy or no free usage That’s not true. ChatGPT, even in the free tier, allows users to opt out of data sharing.
- joshuacc 1y ago
  I believe they are talking about the OpenAI API, not ChatGPT.
- aargh_aargh 1y ago
  This court decision begs to differ: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-appeal-new-york-times-suit-demand-asking-not-delete-any-user-chats-2025-06-06/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-appeal...
  - thimabi 1y ago
    That bears no relation to OpenAI using data for training purposes. Although the court’s decision is problematic, user data is being kept for legal purposes only, and OpenAI is not authorized to use it to train its models.
    - netdur 1y ago
      you must be naive to think OpenAI does not train on your data, Altman is infamous for deceiving claims.
      - 1y ago

nojito 1y ago

>If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. Not if you pay for it.

reaperducer 1y ago
>If you use this, all of your code data will be sent to Google. Not if you pay for it. Today. In six months, a "Terms of Service Update" e-mail will go out to an address that is not monitored by anyone.
- nojito 1y ago
  Sure but then you can stop paying. There's also zero chance they will risk paying customers by changing this policy.
- mpalmer 1y ago
  This sort of facile cynicism doesn't contribute anything useful. Anyone can predict a catastrophe.
  - reaperducer 1y ago
    It would only be cynicism if it didn't happen all the time with seemingly every tech company, major and minor. This is just how things are these days. The track record of Google, and most of the rest of the industry, does not inspire confidence.

FiberBundle 1y ago

Do you honestly believe that the opt-out by Anthropic and Cursor means your code won't be used for training their models? Seems likely that they would rather just risk taking a massive fine for potentially solving software development than to let some competitor try it instead.

rudedogg 1y ago
Yes. The resulting class-action lawsuit would bankrupt the company, along with the reputation damage, and fines.
- pera 1y ago
  > Anthropic cut up millions of used books to train Claude — and downloaded over 7 million pirated ones too, a judge said https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-cut-pirated-millions-used-books-train-claude-copyright-2025-6 https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-cut-pirated-millio... It doesn't look like they care at all about the law though
  - pbhjpbhj 1y ago
    >Anthropic spent "many millions of dollars" buying used print books, then stripped off the bindings, cut the pages, and scanned them into digital files. The judge, Alsup J, ruled that this was lawful. So they cared at least a bit, enough to spend a lot of money buying books. But they didn't care enough not to acquire online libraries held apparently without proper licensing. >Alsup wrote that Anthropic preferred to "steal" books to "avoid 'legal/practice/business slog,' as cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei put it." Aside: using the term steal for copyright infringement is a particularly egregious misuse for a judge who should know that stealing requires denying others of the use of the stolen articles; something which copyright infringement via an online text repository simple could not do.
  - dghlsakjg 1y ago
    Using torrented books in a way that possibly (well, almost certainly) violates copyright law is a world of difference from going after your own customers (and revenue) in a way that directly violates the contract that you wrote and had them agree to.

mil22 1y ago

They really need to provide some clarity on the terms around data retention and training, for users who access Gemini CLI free via sign-in to a personal Google account. It's not clear whether the Gemini Code Assist terms are relevant, or indeed which of the three sets of terms they link at the bottom of the README.md apply here.

fhinkel 1y ago
Agree! We're working on it!
- fhinkel 1y ago
  Hope this is helpful, just merged: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t...
  - mil22 1y ago
    Thank you, this is helpful, though I am left somewhat confused as a "1. Login with Google" user. * The first section states "Privacy Notice: The collection and use of your data are described in the Gemini Code Assist Privacy Notice for Individuals." That in turn states "If you don't want this data used to improve Google's machine learning models, you can opt out by following the steps in Set up Gemini Code Assist for individuals.". That page says to use the VS Code Extension to change some toggle, but I don't have that extension. It states the extension will open "a page where you can choose to opt out of allowing Google to use your data to develop and improve Google's machine learning models." I can't find this page. * Then later we have this FAQ: "1. Is my code, including prompts and answers, used to train Google's models? This depends entirely on the type of auth method you use. Auth method 1: Yes. When you use your personal Google account, the Gemini Code Assist Privacy Notice for Individuals applies. Under this notice, your prompts, answers, and related code are collected and may be used to improve Google's products, which includes model training." This implies Login with Google users have no way to opt out of having their code used to train Google's models. * But then in the final section we have: "The "Usage Statistics" setting is the single control for all optional data collection in the Gemini CLI. The data it collects depends on your account type: Auth method 1: When enabled, this setting allows Google to collect both anonymous telemetry (like commands run and performance metrics) and your prompts and answers for model improvement." This implies prompts and answers for model improvement are considered part of "Usage Statistics", and that "You can disable Usage Statistics for any account type by following the instructions in the Usage Statistics Configuration documentation." So these three sections appear contradictory, and I'm left puzzled and confused. It's a poor experience compared to competitors like GitHub Copilot, which make opting out of model training simple and easy via a simple checkbox in the GitHub Settings page - or Claude Code, where Anthropic has a policy that code will never be used for training unless the user specifically opts in, e.g. via the reporting mechanism. I'm sure it's a great product - but this is, for me, a major barrier to adoption for anything serious.

mil22 1y ago

There is some information on this buried in configuration.md under "Usage Statistics". They claim: *What we DON'T collect:* - *Personally Identifiable Information (PII):* We do not collect any personal information, such as your name, email address, or API keys. - *Prompt and Response Content:* We do not log the content of your prompts or the responses from the Gemini model. - *File Content:* We do not log the content of any files that are read or written by the CLI. https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/0915bf7d677504c28b079693a0fe1c853adc456e/docs/cli/configuration.md?plain=1#L418 https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/0915bf7d677...

jdironman 1y ago
I wonder what the legal difference between "collect" and "log" is.
- kevindamm 1y ago
  Collection means it gets sent to a server, logging implies (permanent or temporary) retention of that data. I tried finding a specific line or context in their privacy policy to link to but maybe someone else can help me provide a good reference. Logging is a form of collection but not everything collected is logged unless mentioned as such.
ipsum2 1y ago
This is useful, and directly contradicts the terms and conditions for Gemini CLI (edit: if you use the personal account, then its governed under the Code Assist T&C). I wonder which one is true?
- mil22 1y ago
  Where did you find the terms and conditions for Gemini CLI? In https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/README.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/README..., I find only links to the T&Cs for the Gemini API, Gemini Code Assist (a different product?), and Vertex AI.

deleted 1y ago

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naiv 1y ago

Who cares, software has no value anymore.

crat3r 1y ago
Sarcasm? Weird statement if not. I still have yet to replace a single application with an LLM, except for (ironically?) Google search. I still use all the same applications as part of my dev work/stack as I did in the early 2020's. The only difference is occasionally using an LLM baked into to one of them but the reality is I don't do that much.

FL410 1y ago

To be honest this is by far the most frustrating part of the Gemini ecosystem, to me. I think 2.5 pro is probably the best model out there right now, and I'd love to use it for real work, but their privacy policies are so fucking confusing and disjointed that I just assume there is no privacy whatsoever. And that's with the expensive Pro Plus Ultra MegaMax Extreme Gold plan I'm on. I hope this is something they're working on making clearer.

dmbche 1y ago
If I'm being cynical, it's easy to either say "we use it" or "we don't touch it" but they'd lose everyone that cares about this question if they just said "we use it" - most beneficial position is to keep it as murky as possible. If I were you I'd assume they're using all of it for everything forever and act accordingly.
ipsum2 1y ago
In my own experience, 2.5 Pro 03-26 was by far the best LLM model at the time. The newer models are quantized and distilled (I confirmed this with someone who works on the team), and are a significantly worse experience. I prefer OpenAI O3 and o4-mini models to Gemini 2.5 Pro for general knowledge tasks, and Sonnet 4 for coding.
- happycube 1y ago
  Gah, enforced enshittification with model deprecation is so annoying.
UncleOxidant 1y ago
For coding in my experience Claude Sonnet/Opus 4.0 is hands down better than Gemini 2.5. pro. I just end up fighting with Claude a lot less than I do with Gemini. I had Gemini start a project that involved creating a recursive descent parser for a language in C. It was full of segfaults. I'd ask Gemini to fix them and it would end up breaking something else and then we'd get into a loop. Finally I had Claude Sonnet 4.0 take a look at the code that Gemini had created. It fixed the segfaults in short order and was off adding new features - even anticipating features that I'd be asking for.

BryanLegend 1y ago

Some of my code is so bad I'm sure it will damage their models!

nprateem 1y ago

I'm not that bothered. Most of it came from Google or anthropic anyway

fnl 1y ago

How does that compare to Claude Code? How protected are you when using CC?

Buttons840 1y ago

Is this significantly different than what we agree to when we put code on GitHub?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

fhinkel 1y ago

Hey all, This is a really great discussion, and you've raised some important points. We realize the privacy policies for the Gemini CLI were confusing depending on how you log in, and we appreciate you calling that out. To clear everything up, we've put together a single doc that breaks down the Terms of Service and data policies for each account type, including an FAQ that covers the questions from this thread. Here’s the link: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t... Thanks again for pushing for clarity on this!

HenriNext 1y ago
Thanks, one more clarification please. The heading of point #3 seems to mention Google Workspace: "3. Login with Google (for Workspace or Licensed Code Assist users)". But the text content only talks about Code Assist: "For users of Standard or Enterprise edition of Gemini Code Assist" ... Could you clarify whether point #3 applies with login via Google Workspace Business accounts?
- fhinkel 1y ago
  Yes it does.
ipsum2 1y ago
I think you did a good job CYA on this, but what people were really looking for was a way to opt-out of Google collecting code, similar to the opt-out process for the IDE is available.
- dcreater 1y ago
  Yeah how is opt out of data collection not an option? This is what they mean by don't be evil and Google is proving yet again that they truly are
  - fhinkel 1y ago
    Usage statistics includes "your prompts and answers", see the last paragraph in the ToS. I have no idea why legal insists we write "statistics" rather than "data".

predkambrij 1y ago

seems to be straight "yes" with no opt-out. https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tos-privacy.md https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/t...

fastball 1y ago

Kinda a tragedy of the commons situation. Everyone wants to use these tools that must be trained on more and more code to get better, but nobody wants it to be trained on their code. Bit silly imo.

learner007 1y ago

good to know, I won't be using this. Curious, do you know if OpenAI codex and Claude also do the same? I was under the impression that they don't share code.