I want to report a concerning issue about how Google AI Studio handles chat deletions. After creating a chat and then deleting it through the AI Studio interface (which also removes the corresponding file from Drive), I would expect it to be fully gone.
The problem: If I bookmarked the unique URL of the chat before deleting it, I can still access the entire conversation at any time (even more than two weeks later). The chat no longer appears in AI Studio or in Drive, yet remains fully accessible via its direct URL. And not just passively, the chat remains fully interactive. I can ask new questions and continue the conversation as if it had never been “deleted”.
Why is this concerning?
It suggests a partial or “soft delete”. We think the chat is gone, but it’s actually still stored somewhere on Google’s servers.
I’m not especially surprised that Google keeps the data… What bothers me is the way it’s hidden from the user while still being accessible/functional if you know the URL.
This creates a false sense of deletion. From a user perspective, the chat looks gone. In reality, it’s not… And worse, it’s still active. That’s a serious problem from both a UX and privacy standpoint.
How to reproduce the bug:
Create a new chat in Google AI Studio
Copy or bookmark the chat’s unique URL
Delete the chat from the AI Studio interface (the file is also removed from Drive)
Return to the saved URL: the entire chat is still accessible and functional
Users deserve a clear, verifiable way to ensure that deleted chats are truly erased from Google’s infrastructure, not just made invisible through the UI. Anything else feels misleading and raises real concerns about privacy.
Thank you in advance for any clarification or official update from the Google team.
I just tested this on my own profile, and indeed, after deleting a chat, it remains accessible via its direct URL.
I decided to run a couple more tests based on your findings:
Access from a different account on the same PC: I asked my brother to log into his Google account and access Google AI Studio on my PC (where my account is also typically logged in). When he tried to open the direct URL for my deleted chat using his account, it redirected back to my primary account session, and the chat opened successfully.
Access from a different account in Incognito: I then tested using an incognito browser window, logged in only with my brother’s account (ensuring no other accounts were authorized in that session). In this case, it seemed to work as expected. I received a message indicating that the prompt was unavailable due to unauthorized access.
The requested prompt does not exist or you do not have access. If you believe the request is correct, make sure you have first allowed AI Studio access to your Google Drive, and then ask the owner to share the prompt with you.
Sounds a bit like they are now ‘hidden’ even more, access restricted, but not necessarily truly deleted. At least they are now invisible to the original creator as well.
This issue still persists. If a chat contains images, those also remain accessible through the original URL, even after deleting them from Google Drive. That raises the question: why does AI Studio save everything to Drive at all, if the data is also stored separately on Google’s servers? This design gives users the impression that their data is tied only to their Drive account, which is misleading.
I get that Google may want to use chats for training, and that’s usually acceptable under the ToS for a free service. But when a user deletes a chat, it should be actually deleted, not just hidden. Anything else is a serious GDPR concern. Hopefully this gets addressed with proper deletion from the server, not just another “soft delete.”
