Google has updated its privacy policy to allow information from Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos to potentially influence personalized advertising when users choose to share that data with eligible Google services. The change, which took effect on October 16, 2026, introduces an exception to the company’s longstanding statement that it does not show personalized ads based on content from these applications.
The update has raised questions about how Google uses personal information across its growing ecosystem of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, particularly when users connect private accounts to services designed to deliver more personalized results.
What has changed?
For years, Google’s privacy policy stated that it did not show personalized advertisements based on content stored in Gmail, Drive or Photos. The updated policy retains that statement but adds an exception: the restriction does not apply when users choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads. <Cite refs={[“turn862001search0″,”turn862001search1”]}/>
The change does not mean that Google automatically uses every email or photograph to target advertisements. Instead, it concerns situations in which users authorize eligible services to access information from their connected applications.
The distinction matters because Google increasingly integrates information across its products to make search results and AI-generated responses more relevant to individual users.
The role of Personal Intelligence
The policy update is closely connected to Google’s Personal Intelligence features, which allow supported AI services to use information from connected applications to provide more personalized responses.
For example, a user planning a trip might ask Google Search’s AI Mode for restaurant recommendations near their hotel. If the user has connected Gmail, the service could use details from a hotel reservation email to identify the destination and suggest nearby places.
This functionality can make AI tools more useful by reducing the amount of information users need to enter manually. However, the same integration raises questions about how information shared to improve AI responses might influence advertising.
According to Google’s updated policy, Search may process data that users permit it to access in order to personalize content, including advertisements. Reporting by Ars Technica and Android Authority indicates that summaries, excerpts and inferences derived from connected applications may contribute to the personalization process.
In practical terms, information shared to make an AI service more useful could also help shape the advertisements a user encounters, depending on their settings and the service involved.
What does Google say?
Google maintains that the change does not mean advertisements will be based directly on a user’s Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. The company also says advertisers cannot directly access users’ private emails and photographs, and that personally identifying information is not shared with advertisers without permission, subject to the company’s stated policies. Google also states that it does not use sensitive categories such as health, religion and sexual orientation to personalize advertisements.
The company presents connected applications as an optional feature. Users decide whether to allow eligible Google services to access information from other applications.
Nevertheless, the distinction between directly using an email and using information derived from it is central to the debate. Even when an advertising system does not access an inbox directly, information processed by another service may help determine which ads are relevant to a user.
Google’s business relies heavily on advertising, while its AI strategy increasingly depends on connecting information across products.
Gmail can contain travel reservations, purchase receipts, work correspondence and other personal details. Google Photos may hold years of photographs documenting a user’s activities and experiences. When these services are connected to AI tools, the information can provide a more detailed picture of a person’s interests and circumstances.
That can improve personalization, but it also makes the boundaries between different services less straightforward. Users may be comfortable sharing information with an AI assistant to receive a specific answer without necessarily expecting that information to influence the advertisements they see elsewhere. The updated wording makes the relationship between connected data and advertising more explicit, according to the reporting by TechSpot and Ars Technica. <Cite refs={[“turn862001search0″,”turn862001search1”]}/>
The change also comes as technology companies compete to build AI assistants that understand users’ preferences, activities and personal context. For these products, access to existing data can be a competitive advantage. For users, however, it makes understanding permissions and privacy settings increasingly important.
How can users protect their privacy?
Users who do not want Google Search to access information from connected applications can review their account settings and disconnect the relevant services. Google’s privacy controls provide several options:
- Open your Google Account. Go to the Data & privacy section.
- Find personalization settings. Open the settings for personalization in Google Search services.
- Review connected applications. Look for Connected Content Apps under the relevant Search personalization settings.
- Disconnect services if necessary. Remove Google Workspace, including Gmail and Drive, or Google Photos from the connected applications list if you do not want Search to access that information.
- Review advertising preferences. Visit My Ad Center to manage or turn off personalized ads.
The precise menu labels may vary as Google updates its interface. Users should also be aware that disconnecting an application does not necessarily erase information that has already been saved in Search Services History.
Turning off personalized advertising and disconnecting applications are separate controls. Users concerned about both AI access and advertising should review each setting rather than assuming that changing one automatically disables the other.
A growing trade-off between convenience and privacy
Google’s update highlights a broader challenge facing AI-powered services: the more personal information an assistant can access, the more relevant its responses may become, but the more important it is to understand how that information is processed and reused.
For users, the issue is not simply whether an AI assistant can read a reservation email or recognize a travel preference. It is also whether the information shared for one purpose can influence another, such as advertising.
Google says access to connected applications is optional and maintains that advertisements will not be based directly on users’ private Gmail inboxes or Photos libraries. However, the revised policy establishes an exception under which information shared with eligible Google services may contribute to personalized advertising.
As AI becomes more deeply integrated into search, email and other everyday applications, users will need to pay closer attention to the permissions they grant and the ways their information can move between services.
