Google: Gmail and Photos data may shape ads if users connect them to AI search

Mountain View, California — Google has updated its privacy policy to clarify that data from Gmail, Drive and Google Photos may be used to personalize ads when users choose to connect them to Search or Gemini through the Personal Intelligence feature, as reported this week by Android Authority, The Verge and other tech outlets.

The new version, in effect since October 16, keeps the company's historic line — "We don't show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos" — but adds a condition: "unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads."

In practice, that means that if users turn on Personal Intelligence — the feature that lets AI Mode in Search and Gemini read their emails, photos and files to give answers better tailored to their context, such as suggesting restaurants based on a reservation found in an email — Search may process some of that data to personalize content, including ads. Google says advertisers do not get direct access to users' emails or photos, and that sensitive categories such as health, religion or sexual orientation remain excluded from ad personalization.

If users never connect those services, the old promise still holds: no ads based on that content. Anyone who already turned the connection on can switch it off in their Google account, under the personalized recommendations settings for Search services.

The change went almost unnoticed for a week, until Android Authority spotted it on October 23. According to Search Engine Land, Google has already begun testing ads inside AI Mode for users who connected their apps through Personal Intelligence.

Photo: Archivo A Lo Claro

Source: The Hacker News