Google Uses Contents of Customer Service Calls to Train AI Models, Says Privacy Action

Home Depot allows Google to access, record, read and learn the contents of customers' calls via its Cloud Contact Center AI (CCAI), in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), alleged a class action Wednesday (docket 2:24-cv-01253) against the two companies in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.

Christopher Barulich of Los Angeles used his cellphone multiple times in October to call Home Depot and spoke with virtual agents before being transferred to a human customer service representative in calls that were “secretly wiretapped or eavesdropped upon and recorded by Google,” said the complaint. Barulich believed that all communications on the calls were only between him and Home Depot, it said. The plaintiff wasn't informed at the beginning of the calls that Google would be monitoring and recording them, nor did he have reason to believe that Google was listening to the contents of his conversations, it said.

Upon information and belief, Google, via CCAI, “surreptitiously listened in and monitored” Barulich’s communications with Home Depot, and it used CCAI technology to transcribe his conversations in real time, analyze the contents of his communications, “and suggest possible replies to the live Home Depot agent on the phone,” the complaint said. Home Depot and Google worked together “to invade the privacy” of Barulich and all other similarly situated callers, in violation of CIPA, it said.

Google profits from the deployment of CCAI by charging users such as Home Depot to use the service, and it has the capability to use the contents of communications it “intercepts” for purposes “beyond the scope of individual customer service calls,” the complaint said. Google can use information and data gleaned from customer service calls to Home Depot "to further train or develop its AI models," and on information and belief, it does so, the complaint said.

When Barulich called Home Depot customer service, Google’s CCAI “did not act as a mere passive tool,” said the complaint. CCAI is an “ongoing and ever-evolving arm of Google -- a third party to conversations between callers and Home Depot,” it said. CCAI allows Google “to eavesdrop or wiretap into live conversations between callers and Home Depot,” it said. In a “completely unauthorized manner and without consent from callers, Google eavesdrops, taps, or connects to, calls between Plaintiff and class members on one end, and Home Depot on the other end, and reads, attempts to read, or learns the contents of communications between the parties to each call,” the complaint said.

The CIPA prohibits both intentional wiretapping and willfully attempting to learn the contents or meaning of a communication in transit over a wire, and then attempting to use or communicate any information obtained, the complaint said.

Barulich seeks permanent injunctive relief, enjoining the defendants from eavesdropping on telephonic communications without the consent of all parties, the complaint said. He seeks for himself and class members damages of $5,000 per CIPA violation, plus attorneys’ fees, legal costs and pre- and post-judgment interest. Google and Home Depot didn't comment.