Google can now use Gmail and Photos data for ads if you connect them to its AI

What changed

Google has added an exception to one of its longest-standing privacy promises. Its privacy policy, in a version that took effect on 16 October 2026, still says Google does not show personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail or Google Photos. But the sentence now continues: unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.

The change went largely unnoticed for a week. Android Authority flagged it on 23 October, and The Verge and 9to5Google followed the same day. All three tie it to Personal Intelligence, the feature that lets Gemini and Google Search draw on your email, files and photos to give more tailored answers.

In plain terms, if you have connected Gmail, Drive or Photos to Search or Gemini so they can understand your plans and preferences, Google now reserves the right to use some of that connected data to personalize the ads you see. If you have not connected those apps, the old promise still applies to you.

The old wording and the new wording

AI Lookout compared the current policy with the archived version that applied from 26 May to 1 October 2026. In the older text the promise was a complete sentence with no qualifier: Google said it did not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The new version keeps those words and adds the exception about choosing to make that data available to other services that support personalized ads.

Two other edits point the same way. The older policy said Google may show ads based on your interests and activity across Google services. The new one says ads may be based on your interests, activity, or personalized content from Google services. The wording widens what can feed ad targeting from what you do to what is in the content you have chosen to connect.

The new version also adds a paragraph that did not appear in the May text. It says you may choose to allow certain Google services, including Search or Gemini Apps, to access data from other services you use, such as Google Photos and Workspace apps like Gmail and Drive, to get a more personalized experience, subject to the policies and settings of the accessing service. It then gives an example: Search may process some of the data that you allow Search to access to personalize content, including ads.

That example is the clearest statement of intent in the document. It names Search as the service and ads as one of the things the connected data can shape.

Why Personal Intelligence is the trigger

Personal Intelligence is Google's name for letting its AI tools reach into the rest of your Google account. 9to5Google notes that it began rolling out in beta at the start of 2026 and lets Gemini share data across apps including Gmail, Photos, Search and Drive. Google has been extending it to more surfaces, including the car, as AI Lookout reported when Gemini Personal Intelligence came to Android Auto.

Android Authority gives an example of why someone would switch it on: ask Search for restaurants near a hotel you have booked, and with access to Gmail it can find the reservation and suggest places nearby. The policy change means the same connection that makes that answer possible can now also inform which ads appear.

The feature is opt-in. You have to choose to connect Workspace apps or Photos to Search or Gemini. The point the three outlets make is that many people who switched it on for better answers may not have expected the choice to reach advertising as well.

What Google still promises

Several protections in the policy are unchanged. Google still says it does not show personalized ads based on sensitive categories such as race, religion, sexual orientation or health. It still says it does not share information that personally identifies you, such as your name or email, with advertisers unless you ask it to.

The Verge adds that advertisers do not get access to your Drive, Gmail or Photos information itself. Android Authority stresses that the change does not mean Google automatically scans private emails and photos to serve ads; the exception covers data users have chosen to share with eligible services.

So the model is the familiar one used across online advertising. Google uses what it knows to decide which ad to show, and the advertiser buys the placement without seeing the underlying data. What is new is that the data pool can now include content from connected email, files and photos.

What remains unclear

The policy is broad, and Google has not published a detailed explanation alongside it. It does not list which services count as ones that support personalized ads beyond the Search example, how much of the connected content is used, or whether signals derived from it can follow you to ads on other Google properties such as YouTube.

The policy's own example of cross-service ads, where searching for mountain bikes can lead to sports equipment ads on YouTube, shows that Google does link activity across services for advertising. Whether connected Gmail content can travel that far is not spelled out.

Android Authority also warns about leftovers. Disconnecting an app does not necessarily erase information Google has already saved, and data stored in Search Services History may remain even after you disconnect the app or delete the original email or photo. AI Lookout found no statement from Google about how long such data stays usable for ads.

Google did not publish a blog post or notice about this specific change that AI Lookout could find, and the reports rely on the policy text itself. That is why the exact scope may only become clear if Google comments or regulators ask.

How to switch it off

If you do not want connected content to shape ads, you can disconnect the apps from Search. Android Authority lays out the path in your Google Account: open Data and privacy, choose Personalization settings under Personalization and activity, then Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search Services. Under Additional Personal Intelligence, find Connected Content apps and disconnect Google Workspace and Google Photos.

The more drastic option is to turn off Personalized Recommendations entirely from the Search Services Personalization page. That removes the tailored answers too, which is the trade-off Google is asking users to weigh.

Separately, My Ad Center still lets you turn off personalized ads or adjust which topics Google uses. If you already had personalized ads switched off, the new exception has less practical effect, though the policy says ad settings and Search settings work together depending on the service.

It is also worth checking Search Services History if you connected apps in the past. Given the warning that saved data can outlast a disconnection, clearing that history is the more thorough step for anyone worried about what has already been collected.

How this fits the wider AI ads race

The timing matters because AI assistants are becoming ad businesses. OpenAI has been building out ChatGPT ads fast, adding custom audiences built from emails, phone numbers and Android IDs and then expanding ads to 26 more countries as it passed 100,000 advertisers. Google, whose core business is ads, is now making clear that the personal context fed to its AI can be part of its ad system as well.

For Google, Personal Intelligence is a way to make Gemini and AI Mode more useful than rivals that do not have years of a user's email and photos. The policy change shows how that advantage can also be turned into better ad targeting, which is where the money is.

It also adds to a run of questions about how chatbot makers handle user data and disclosure. AI Lookout recently reported on WhatsApp help pages that told its chatbot not to recommend privacy regulators. In Europe, any use of email content for ads is likely to draw attention from data protection authorities, since consent for one purpose does not automatically cover another under GDPR.

What to watch next

The main open question is whether Google will explain the change in more detail, for example with a help page listing which connected data can influence ads and for how long. Another is whether the exception is applied the same way in the European Union and the United Kingdom, where consent rules are stricter.

For users, the practical takeaway is simple. Personal Intelligence is still opt-in, but switching it on is now also a decision about advertising. Anyone who connected Gmail, Drive or Photos to Search or Gemini should look at those settings again and decide whether better AI answers are worth more personal ads.