Gemini Spark Gives Google Way Too Much Access to Your Data


Google’s shoving more AI into its software and devices. Meet Gemini Spark, the new AI agent that’s like a 24/7 personal assistant. Google debuted the tool on Tuesday at its Google I/O developer conference. 

We saw a demo of Gemini Spark in action, handling multistep tasks, like planning a block party. Gemini Spark counted RSVPs, followed up with those who hadn’t and created an RSVP tracker that automatically updates when new responses come in via Gmail. 

Gemini Spark will be available to some testers this week and available in Beta for Google AI Ultra subscribers next week. There are also plans for Gemini Spark to be available as a Mac desktop app and, later, on Chrome for everyone.

The new AI agent sounds like a dream if you’re busy or overwhelmed by the thought of umpteen tasks on your to-do list. But ask yourself if you’re really OK with Google having access to all that information.

Access to all of your apps at once is a problem

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The big question is, how can Google guarantee your personal data is safe and secure when giving Gemini Spark access to apps including (but not limited to) Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Google Maps? Google says these connections are turned off by default, but you can turn them on. And Google says Gemini Spark “does not read your emails indiscriminately.” 

But when these connections are enabled, we still don’t know which information is being stored and shared for Gemini Spark to work. And while we hope that Gemini Spark sticks to only Google apps, what about other information stored on your device, like the guests’ phone numbers if they RSVP’d to that block party or their emails used for follow-ups? Despite the advanced security measures most AI tools promise, it’s only a matter of time before scams and data breaches occur. 

Gemini Spark could watch your screen

Google says that Gemini Spark works in the background using Gemini 3.5 Flash and Antigravity. It will run even if your laptop and phone are turned off. Gemini Spark will run independently, but under your direction. 

If it’s running in the background on its own, I’m concerned it’s watching my screen like a hawk to complete tasks independently. This makes me question how Google can guarantee my data is safe. Giving an AI agent permission to scan my Google Sheets and highlight important information may save me time, but imagine that data falling into the wrong hands for work or personal matters. That’s always a risk, but Gemini Spark feels like an invitation. 

For instance, letting Gemini Spark order snacks for my son’s soccer game and having Instacart deliver them gives room for errors beyond too many oranges and juice boxes. Think about your payment information and addresses being used in the process while you sleep. There are too many risks to my personal data and devices. I’ll pass. 





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Just a few months ago, Elon Musk accused the AI company Anthropic of stealing artificial intelligence training data “at massive scale” in a post on his social network X

That apparently hasn’t stopped the billionaire from doing business with the company. Musk’s SpaceX has signed a data center deal that will give Anthropic access to more than 200,000 Nvidia GPUs worth of power at its Colossus 1 supercomputer facility in Tennessee.

The partnership will give Anthropic additional firepower to “directly improve capacity for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers,” SpaceX said in a website post. “As part of this agreement, Anthropic also expressed interest in partnering to develop multiple gigawatts of orbital AI compute capacity.”

Because of this deal, Anthropic said in its own post, the company is raising usage limits for users across some of its products. The changes, effective immediately, double Claude Code rate limits for users of Claude on Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans, remove peak-hour restrictions of Claude Code for Pro and Max accounts and raise API limits for Claude Opus models.

More AI means more data center deals

In the same post, Anthropic listed some of its other data center agreements with companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and reiterated its intention to keep expanding internationally. In the era of data center backlashes, Anthropic also announced in February that it has pledged to cover the costs of energy price increases driven by data center activity. Critics have questioned how companies such as Anthropic can uphold those pledges.

The deal with SpaceX, which acquired Musk’s AI company xAI earlier this year, may have surprised some, but AI companies are scrambling to secure data center resources as they continue to develop increasingly data-hungry artificial intelligence models.

At the same time, some communities are pushing back on new data center construction, leading some in the industry, Musk in particular, to plan to build data centers in space

Among the groups criticizing the deal is the NAACP, which said in a statement about SpaceX, “Any company that disregards the obvious environmental and health concerns of Black communities to supposedly power a future that will help us all is sending a clear message about who it intends to serve in that future… Anthropic’s use of a data center that pollutes a historically Black community is, at best, an uninformed decision, and at worst, a total disregard for the community’s wishes and health.”

The organization pointed to a lawsuit it has filed against SpaceX over environmental concerns at its Colossus 1 computing center.





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