Overview
- Google updated its privacy policy, which took effect on October 16, to add an exception that allows content from Gmail, Drive and Photos to inform ad personalization when users connect those apps to Personal Intelligence.
- The company has begun testing ads inside AI Mode for people who enable Personal Intelligence, reversing an earlier line that the AI experience would stay ad-free for now.
- Users can disconnect Gmail and Google Photos from Search Services Personalization or turn off ad personalization in My Ad Center to limit this data flow, but disconnecting does not erase AI-generated summaries already saved in Search Services History.
- Google says advertisers will not receive raw emails or photos and that sensitive categories such as health, religion, sexual orientation and race are not used for targeting, and it also says some AI-processed content may be reviewed by human reviewers.
- The policy text is global though the connected-apps feature reportedly is not yet available in the EU, the UK or Switzerland, a gap that could prompt regulatory scrutiny and will leave users needing to check settings and Search Services History to control how their data is used.