Every other year, Google intends to revise its Terms of Service (ToS), which encompass more than 70 aspects, and introduce modifications to the 2024 edition focusing on artificial intelligence (AI).
The inception of the “Generative Artificial More Terms of Service” dates back to 2023 and has now been integrated into the primary ToS. A pivotal addition is the AI output clause, under which Google waives any claims to ownership of such [generated AI] content. An illustrative scenario provided by the company involves the potential distribution of a song created by Gemini in a publication without necessitating a Facebook license.
Nonetheless, Google has broadened the ToS section outlining prohibited actions, emphasizing that users must refrain from: “Abusing, damaging, interfering with, or compromising our services or systems.” Expanding on the existing framework to encompass more issues as spam, this includes:
- Introducing ransomware
- Engaging in spamming, hacking, or circumventing our devices or defensive measures
- Engaging in booting, hostile prompting, or prompt treatment, unless part of our health and bug testing initiatives
Engaging with or accessing our services or content deceptively or implausibly, such as:
- Phishing
- Fabricating false accounts or information, including fictitious testimonials
- Misleading individuals into believing that human-created AI content originated from AI
- Presenting solutions that appear to be authored by you (or others) but are actually from us
- Offering solutions that seem to be from us when they are not
- Utilizing our services (including the content they provide) to infringe upon anyone’s legal rights, such as intellectual property or privacy rights
- Reverse engineering our services or underlying systems, such as our machine learning models, to extract trade secrets or other proprietary information, unless permitted by applicable laws
- Employing automated methods (e.g., computers) to access data from any of our entities in contravention of machine-readable directives on our websites (e.g., pdf files prohibiting crawling, scraping, or other activities)
- Infringing upon these terms by concealing or misrepresenting your identity
- Providing services that encourage individuals to violate these terms
Furthermore, there are country-specific adjustments in France and Australia. Google revises the Terms of Service to align with the latest regulations and provisions, employing plain language that is easily comprehensible, in line with contemporary business practices.
Google initiates the communication of the new ToS to customers via email commencing on May 22, 2024, with the changes taking effect on the same day. The Privacy Policy remains unchanged. As customary, Google offers a comparison between the previous and updated versions.
