How is this legal?

Google Gemini forces a choice between privacy and functionality – how is this legal in the EU?

I honestly don't understand how Google's current approach to Gemini is supposed to be compatible with EU privacy regulations.

With Gemini, you essentially have the choice of turning “Gemini Apps Activity” on or off.

If I turn it on, my Gemini conversations are saved. At the same time, according to Google's own information, some conversations may be reviewed by human reviewers and the data can be used to improve Google's AI models.

So as a user, I may be using Gemini normally, potentially entering personal or sensitive information, creating images, doing research, etc. – while at the same time accepting that these conversations may be reviewed by humans and used to improve the AI.

Okay, so why not simply turn Activity off?

That's where the problem starts.

When Activity is turned off, important functionality becomes unavailable, and you can no longer properly access your previous Gemini activity and conversations. That can also mean losing access to things you previously created, such as images, research, and other content.

So from my perspective, the choice is basically:

Activity ON:
→ I can access my conversations and use the full functionality
→ but my data can be stored, potentially reviewed by humans, and used to improve/train Google's AI under the applicable settings.

Activity OFF:
→ More privacy
→ but I lose important functionality and access to my previous content.

What I find particularly strange is that Google seems to tie these things together instead of separating them.

Why can't I simply have:

“I want my conversations to be saved so I can access them.”

and separately:

“I do NOT want my conversations to be used to improve/train the AI models.”

ChatGPT, for example, allows users to keep their chat history while having a separate setting concerning whether conversations can be used to improve the models.

Why doesn't Google provide the same kind of separation?

Instead, it seems that Google is effectively forcing users to choose between giving Google broader access to their conversations and losing important functionality/access to their own content.

I find this particularly questionable for users in the EU.

My question to people who understand EU privacy law:

How is this legally permissible?

Is this actually compatible with the GDPR and European data protection rules if a provider makes access to certain functionality and previously created content dependent on enabling a setting under which conversations may be used to improve AI models?

Could there be issues regarding consent, whether consent is genuinely voluntary, the GDPR's rules around conditional consent, or “take it or leave it” mechanisms?

I'm not trying to start another Google-bashing discussion. I'm genuinely interested in the legal reasoning behind this.

If anyone here has knowledge of the GDPR, EU data protection law, or the EU AI Act, I'd really appreciate an explanation of how Google's approach is legally justified.