Chrome’s Gmail-powered autofill: Web3 had the gas fees, Chrome just needs your permission

Google’s Chrome browser can now use information from a user’s Gmail inbox to populate online forms, suggesting order numbers, tracking information and flight bookings when requested, Google said Wednesday. The “enhanced autofill” feature is available to Gemini in Chrome users with Personal Intelligence enabled on desktop, Android and iOS in the U.S., beginning with a rollout.

The update runs through Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, using Personal Intelligence, which allows Gemini to access connected services such as Gmail and Google Photos. Google named only order numbers, tracking information and flight bookings as Gmail-derived data available through enhanced autofill. Credit card numbers and addresses remain part of Chrome’s standard autofill and are drawn from information saved in the browser; Google did not say the new feature retrieves them from Gmail inboxes.

“You can manage whether enhanced autofill is enabled and what it can access via your Chrome settings,” Chrome product manager Amanda Lim wrote. “As always, sensitive data is encrypted and you remain in control.” Google did not explain how encryption applies to Gmail content accessed by Chrome or what it scans.

Google said in March, when it expanded Personal Intelligence to free U.S. users, that “Built with privacy with privacy in mind, Gemini and AI Mode don’t train directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library.” AI Mode is Google’s AI-powered experience inside Search. Users can choose whether to connect their apps and disable those connections at any time, although Google trains on limited information such as specific prompts and the model’s responses.

The feature arrives after users objected in November to a Smart Features setting that allowed Gemini to analyze emails and calendars unless users opted out. Google said it had not changed its underlying data-handling practices. Effective Oct. 16, Google also revised its privacy policy to add an exception to its pledge not to use Gmail, Drive and Photos content for ads: personalized ads can draw on that information when users make it available to other Google services that support them. Google said the content is not used for ad targeting by default and advertisers do not receive access to the contents of Gmail, Drive or Photos.