Google updated its privacy guideline to authorize satisfied from Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive to perform a function in personalized ads whenever users nexus those apps to another Google services, according to gHacks.
The revised guideline took consequence on October 16 and chiefly applies to searchers who opt into Personal Intelligence in Gemini and AI Mode in Search.
Alongside the guideline update, Google has started evaluation AI Mode ads for users who have Personal Intelligence turned on.
Here’s what’s changing, how connected-app signals activity in AI Mode, and what you can really inspect inner your Google Ads accounts.
What Changed In Google’s Privacy Policy
For years, Google’s privacy guideline has stated that they don’t display personalized ads according to satisfied from Drive, Gmail, or Photos. Google scanned liberated Gmail accounts to mark ads until 2017 before ending the practice.
The updated guideline keeps that declaration but adds an exception:
…unless you choose to create data from these services accessible to another Google services that assistance personalized ads.
A new passage explains that users can provision Search or Gemini Apps admission to data from another Google apps. How that data can be used depends on the settings and policies of the assistance accessing it.
Google specifically says Search may use several of that data to personalize content, including ads. For users who nexus apps to Search, data shared for personalized aid may additionally power the ads they see.
How Personal Intelligence Shapes Ads In AI Mode
Personal Intelligence is an opt-in characteristic that lets Gemini and AI Mode in Search drag environment from connected apps. Google archetypal launched the characteristic in January 2026 as a Labs test in English in the U.S. for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers using individual Google accounts, excluding Workspace business, enterprise, and learning accounts.
Google introduced it in Search in January 2026 as a Labs test for eligible U.S. Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Users could nexus Gmail and Google Photos through their individual Google accounts.
When a searcher uses Personal Intelligence, AI Mode can citation a inn booking or escape confirmation in Gmail alongside journey pictures in Google Photos to tailor its responses.
Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, described how this plant for retailing queries in Google’s January announcement:
Personal Intelligence can additionally be particularly helpful for shopping, since AI Mode considers the types of items you buy and anywhere you shop. If you need a new coat for your upcoming trip, AI Mode could automatically obtain into document the brands you prefer, as fine as your escape confirmation in Gmail to acknowledge the destination and timing (Chicago in March). You’ll get suggestions for windproof, versatile coats that fit the climate and your preferred look. It’s akin a individual shopper who already knows your itinerary and the vibe you’re going for.
When Google expanded the characteristic in March, the business stated the Personal Intelligence cognition would remain ad-free for now, during noting it expected ads to activity in a akin way for connected users later. Now, Google is evaluation ads inside that connected experience.
According to Google’s Search Help records cited by The Keyword, ads aren’t matched immediately to the raw contents of an email or photo library. Instead, the assistance leaf states that Search may citation summaries, excerpts, and inferences from connected sources to personalize the experience, and that the identical data may be used to display ads.
Google additionally outlines multiple boundaries about how this data is handled:
- No advertiser access: Advertisers won’t get admission to a user’s connected Gmail inbox or Google Photos library.
- Sensitive categories remain excluded: Google doesn’t display personalized ads according to delicate categories, which it lists as race, religion, intimate orientation, and health.
- User opt-out controls: Searchers can keep Gmail and Photos out of ad personalization by turning off personalized ads in My Ad Center, or by beginning Search personalization settings in their Google Account, selecting Connected Content Apps, and disconnecting the apps.
Turning off ad personalization in My Ad Center doesn’t necessarily halt connected apps from feeding data into AI features, so disconnecting the apps is the lone way for a person to eliminate Gmail and Photos from Personal Intelligence entirely.
Additionally, Google’s assistance leaf notes that connected-app summaries, excerpts, and inferences may be used to train Google’s generative AI models, and a subset of data processed by AI Mode and Ask Maps is reviewed by individual reviewers.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
If you’re looking for a new targeting toggle or spectators section inner Google Ads, you won’t discover one.
Personal Intelligence sits entirely on the searcher’s side. Google hasn’t announced any new advertiser controls, targeting options, or dedicated reporting for the Personal Intelligence ad test. That method connected-app inferences can power which ads an opted-in person sees in AI Mode, but you can’t immediately target, segment, or bid on Gmail or Photos insights.
Instead, run eligibility follows the existing rules for ads in AI Mode. Google named three run types as eligible for AI Mode ad testing: Performance Max, Shopping, and Search campaigns using broad match, including AI Max for Search.
That eligibility doesn’t verify that a run has served ads to Personal Intelligence users. Google additionally hasn’t announced distinct eligibility requirements for this test.
For eligible advertisers, connected apps could provision data concerning a buying need that person hasn’t included in their query. However, advertisers have constricted visibility into whether that data contributes to shipment or results.
The accessible reporting has two limitations:
- No dedicated Personal Intelligence reporting: Google hasn’t announced a study showing whenever connected-app data influenced an impression.
- AI Max reports don’t (and apt won’t) acknowledge these signals: Search term, asset and landing leaf reports display AI Max performance, without identifying whether Gmail or Photos data contributed.
What’s Still Unknown
Google has not stated whenever ads in AI Mode for users alongside Personal Intelligence enabled volition move beyond testing, or whether advertisers volition eventually get dedicated reporting or placement controls for AI Mode.
It additionally remains unclear whether connected-app signals personalize ads lone inner AI Mode or throughout another Google properties. While the test is described for AI Mode, The Keyword observed that Google’s assistance leaf answers the ad personalization inquiry for “Search Services” as a whole, a collection the leaf defines as Google Search (including AI Mode and Discover), Maps, Shopping, Flights, Hotels, Translate, and News.
Google is additionally replacing its Web & App Activity and Search Personalization controls alongside two new settings, Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations, complete the coming months. We’ll continue observing the rollout and update this part as Google shares additional particulars on ad eligibility and reporting.
Featured image: Primakov / Shutterstock
