Opt-In Era: Google's Personal Intelligence Ties Inbox and Photos to Search Ads

Google implemented a privacy policy revision on October 16 that permits content from Gmail, Drive, and Photos to influence the advertisements displayed to users in Search. The change modifies previous policy language that explicitly excluded content from these specific services from being used for personalized ads.

The update is linked to the Personal Intelligence feature, which began rolling out in beta at the start of 2026. This feature allows the Gemini model to access data shared across Google apps, including Search, Photos, Gmail, and Drive. The revised policy states that personalized ads are not based on Drive, Gmail, or Photos content unless users choose to make that data available to other Google services that support personalized ads.

According to the new policy text, users can allow services like Search or Gemini to access data from other apps in exchange for a more tailored experience. The document provides a specific example: Search may process data a user permits it to access in order to personalize content, including advertisements. This mechanism enables ads to be targeted using connected content without Google handing the raw contents of a user's inbox or photo library directly to advertisers.

Google’s stance on identifying details remains unchanged. The policy continues to state that advertisers will not see personally identifying information, such as a user’s name or email address, without explicit permission. This language is identical to previous versions of the document. The feature remains opt-in for all accounts.

Users concerned about the change can review their settings by navigating to the Data & privacy section of the My Account page. From there, they should select Personalization settings and then choose Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search services. This page includes a Turn off button that disables personalized recommendations entirely for the account.