Google turns on request storage by default for new Gemini API projects on the paid tier
2026-10-26
Per Google's Gemini API changelog, as of October 26, new projects using the Generate Content API on the paid tier now store requests by default (store=true), matching the existing default for the Interactions API. Existing projects keep their current setting; developers can opt out per-request or by disabling Generate Content API logging in the Logs and Datasets dashboard.
Significance 3: A default-setting change affecting customer data retention for a major API, disclosed plainly in a technical changelog rather than a privacy announcement, is a notable governance-relevant shift though it offers an opt-out and only applies to new projects.
Implications · machine-drafted, not owner judgment
Enabling storage by default rather than opt-in for new paid-tier projects shifts the default toward more data retention, raising the same kind of trust question already tracked for Anthropic's own data-retention policy reversal — a default favoring vendor data access over customer privacy preference unless the customer actively opts out.
- Whether enterprise customers or privacy advocates push back on the new default
- Whether Google extends the same default to existing projects later
Sources
- primary Release notes | Gemini API retrieved 2026-10-27