Think about what your staff typed into a search box this week. A supplier’s name. A competitor’s pricing. A question about an employee dispute or a lawsuit. Each search tells the search engine something about your business, and on Google, that information goes to a company whose main product is advertising.
Our advice to the businesses we support is plain: stop using Google Search. Use Brave Search, or an AI assistant on a business plan. Changing the default takes about a minute per computer, and it is one of the cheapest privacy improvements an office can make.
Google Search is an advertising product
According to Alphabet’s 2025 annual report (Form 10-K), “Google Search & other” earned $224.5 billion in advertising revenue, more than half of Alphabet’s $402.8 billion total. Google’s privacy policy lists “terms you search for” among what it collects, and says it may show “personalized ads based on your interests and activity across Google services.” In our view, a free search engine that earns its living this way works for its advertisers first. You are the source of the data, not the customer.
In August 2024 a federal judge ruled, as NPR reported, that “Google is a monopolist.” As of September 2026 the remedies are on appeal, and Courthouse News reports Google paid “over $26 billion annually” to be the default search engine on other companies’ devices. That default box on your PCs is worth a great deal to Google.
Search now answers with Gemini, and learns from you
At its May 19, 2026 developer conference, Google announced “the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years,” rebuilt around AI, with its Gemini AI as the default model in AI Mode (the chat-style version of Search) “for everyone globally.” Search increasingly writes an answer instead of listing links.
It also wants to know you. Personal Intelligence, launched for free U.S. accounts in March 2026 and expanded in May to “nearly 200 countries and territories,” lets AI Mode draw on a person’s Gmail and Google Photos if they connect them. It is opt-in. Google’s smart features page says it works through a setting that lets Gmail data power “Personal Intelligence in Search services (personal accounts only).” Google says it does not “train directly on your Gmail inbox,” but does use “limited info, like specific prompts” and responses.
That is one reason we also advise against Google’s office tools: when a search engine shapes answers around your own mail and history, you are not getting a neutral search. We explain in Gmail and Google’s office tools.
A new setting worth checking: Search Services History
As of September 2026, Google manages search history through a setting called Search Services History. Google says it saves searches, “generative AI responses,” and media such as “Google Lens images, content you upload, and recordings from Search Live.” It carried over earlier choices: “If these were on, these new settings are also on.” Google says it uses this history to “train generative AI models,” that it “may be reviewed by human reviewers,” and that training data is disconnected from your account and “retained for up to 4 years.”
A photo of a whiteboard or a contract uploaded for a quick summary can become training material. If anyone in your office still uses Google, turn this setting off.
Our first recommendation: Brave Search
Brave Search delivers “results from its own, built-from-scratch index,” so you are not seeing Google’s or Bing’s view of the web with a new coat of paint. Brave states: “Brave Search doesn’t profile you. It’s impossible for us to share, sell, or lose your personal data, because we don’t collect it.” The free version shows privacy-protecting ads; Brave Search Premium removes them and, as of September 2026, is available only in the Brave browser, which we recommend in Google Chrome and your privacy.
Scott’s view since 2024 has not changed: in search, you get what you pay for. When you pay, there is no advertiser in the room. Premium is worth it for people who search all day.
Two other private engines are reasonable. DuckDuckGo protects privacy but sources traditional links “largely” from Bing. Kagi is paid-only, with “no ads, no tracking.”
Our second recommendation: an AI assistant on a business plan
For many questions, staff want an answer, not ten links. We think ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Claude are excellent replacements for Google Search for research and everyday questions. The plan matters, because consumer and business terms differ (as of September 2026):
| Assistant | Consumer version | Business version |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI says it may train on chats unless you turn off “Improve the model for everyone” | OpenAI says it does not train on business data by default |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft says it uses conversations for AI training unless you opt out | With work accounts, prompts and responses “aren’t used to train foundation models,” per Microsoft |
| Claude | Anthropic lets users choose; chats are kept five years if they allow training | Anthropic’s commercial terms: it “may not train models on Customer Content” |
Two rules apply to all of them. Use a company business or team plan, not personal accounts. And don’t paste confidential client, employee or financial details into any AI tool unless it is approved for that data. AI answers can also be wrong; AI search in 2026 covers how far to trust them.
Make the switch
- Pick Brave Search as the office default, and one approved AI assistant on a business plan.
- Enforce the default centrally so updates do not quietly switch it back. Our guide to switching to Brave and Firefox covers the move.
- Tell staff why. Two minutes of explanation earns more cooperation than a silent change.
- If some Google use is unavoidable, see how to reduce what Google collects.
How FTI helps
Finite Technologies is an Alaskan technology company that has been building software since 1990, and we use AI ourselves in how we design, build and support technology. As part of our managed IT services, we set and enforce browser, search and AI settings across your computers, so a privacy decision made once stays made, and we can help you choose an AI plan with data terms that suit your business.
Talk to us about taking your searches back from the ad business
