Google Duet AI GDPR and Data Protection: Why Invisible Use and Hosting

Google Duet AI GDPR and Data Protection: The Core Issue

Google Duet AI is the intelligent assistant built into Google Meet and Workspace. It helps create meeting summaries, take notes, and even generate content automatically — all without adding an extra bot to the meeting. While this is convenient, it raises serious questions when it comes to data protection. That’s especially true for companies operating under stricter privacy regulations, like those in the EU. Why? Because the AI processes data in the background, often using infrastructure based in the United States.

How Google Duet AI Works: Always On, Hard to Detect

Google Duet AI is fully integrated with Google Meet. Once enabled, it begins analyzing conversations silently in the background. There’s no visible notification, no pop-up, and no added participant to signal that AI is at work. The assistant automatically generates notes, action items, and summaries based on what’s said, without clearly informing other meeting participants.

Here’s what may be processed:

• Spoken content (converted to text)
• Names of participants and contextual details
• Possibly linked information from calendars, chats, or documents

A Transparency Gap: What Participants Don’t See with Google Duet AI

Privacy rules, especially in the EU, require transparency. But with Google Duet AI, participants are often unaware that their input is being recorded and processed. Since the system doesn’t announce itself, it’s up to the meeting organizer or user to inform everyone else. In regulated environments, this creates compliance risks.

This could raise concerns under key EU GDPR principles, such as:

• Article 5(1)(a): Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency
• Article 13: Duty to inform data subjects
• Article 6: Legal basis for processing personal data

The responsibility falls on the user, and in practice, this step is often skipped.

Data Hosting Outside the EU: A Known Challenge

While Google operates data centers globally, much of the processing, including model training, is handled in the US. That introduces legal uncertainty for EU-based organizations. Though Google participates in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF), this doesn’t automatically ensure full protection for all use cases. For highly sensitive data, relying on US-based infrastructure may still pose a risk.

Google Duet AI's Practical Hurdles to GDPR Compliance

To use Google Duet AI in a GDPR-compliant way, several steps must be taken:

• Clearly inform all meeting participants ahead of time.
• Obtain explicit consent for AI-based processing.
• Ensure secure data transfer protocols to non-EU locations.
• Establish internal processes for documentation and accountability

These requirements are difficult to meet consistently, especially in everyday use.

Google Duet AI GDPR and Data Protection: A Gap Between Policy and Reality

In many cases, users activate Google Duet AI without fully realizing what data is being collected or how it’s used. Even fewer take the time to inform others or get consent. This creates a compliance risk, particularly for companies that need to follow EU rules.

Conclusion: Google Duet AI is Problematic From a GDPR Standpoint

Google Duet AI can boost productivity, but it introduces real challenges for data protection, especially in environments where stricter rules apply. The invisible nature of the tool and its use of international infrastructure can lead to unintended non-compliance.

If transparency and security are priorities, companies should consider alternatives that are explicitly designed with those principles in mind. For example, tools like Sally include a visible bot, announce themselves automatically, and use EU-based servers, making it easier to stay aligned with regional data protection laws.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.