Google adds October 16th privacy change: AI Mode data may target ads

The change is a narrow but meaningful addition to Google's privacy policy. Previously, Google promised not to use Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos data for personalized ads. As of October 16th, that promise now carries an exception when users choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. This means the act of connecting services like Gmail or Photos to AI Mode and other Search tools via Personal Intelligence — which users do to get better AI responses — can also open that data to ad targeting.

Google is drawing boundaries around what advertisers can access. Advertisers do not get the underlying Drive, Gmail, or Photos information or personally identifying details such as names or email addresses, and Google says it will not show ads based on sensitive categories like race, sexual orientation, religion, or health. The policy itself gives the example of searching for "mountain bikes" and then seeing sports equipment ads on YouTube. For users who want to prevent this, Google points to controls that let them disconnect apps from Search's Personal Intelligence features or turn off Personalized Recommendations in the Search Services Personalization settings.