Your Personal Photos and Emails Are Now Fair Game for Google Ads

Giving Google’s AI access to your inbox and photo library could also help it decide which ads to show you.

Google updated its privacy policy on Oct. 16, adding an exception to its promise to keep Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos content out of personalized advertising.^[1] The change affects users who choose to share that information with other Google services that support personalized ads.

If you connected your apps to get more useful AI answers, those connections deserve another look. You can also change your privacy settings to limit how much of your activity Google saves.

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What changed in Google’s privacy policy?

Google’s policy previously ruled out using content from those three services to personalize ads. That assurance now includes a condition: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.”

The policy also explains that Search may use information you allow it to access to personalize content, including advertising. Android Authority first reported the updated wording.

The change comes as Google expands Personal Intelligence, which lets its AI tools draw on information from connected apps.

When Google introduced the feature in AI Mode in January, it described an assistant that could use Gmail and Google Photos to make recommendations without requiring users to explain their plans and preferences from scratch. Access was initially offered to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S.

That convenience now comes with an advertising consideration.

How your emails and photos could influence ads

Google’s explanation draws a distinction between your original content and information pulled from it.

Its Search help page says ads won’t be based directly on your inbox or photo library. However, Search can use “summaries, excerpts and inferences” from connected apps to personalize your experience.

“That same info may be used to show you ads,” Google says.

For example, Google says it may use hotel reservations, flight details, and information about restaurants you visited on previous trips to suggest places to eat. Those details can help produce a useful answer. Under its advertising policy, information from connected apps can also influence ads.

Google says advertisers won’t gain access to your Gmail inbox or Google Photos through these connections. It also says sensitive categories, including health, religion, race, and sexual orientation, remain excluded from personalized ad targeting.

TechSpot reports that Google has started testing ads in AI Mode for users with Personal Intelligence enabled.

How to disconnect your apps

You can review the connections in your Google Account:

1. Open Search Services Personalization.
2. Find Additional Personal Intelligence.
3. Select Connected Content Apps.
4. Disconnect Google Workspace and Google Photos if you don’t want Search accessing that content.

Google is updating its Search settings, so the labels may differ while those changes roll out.

You can also turn off Personalized Recommendations entirely. Disconnecting an app doesn’t erase information already saved in Search Services History, though.

For advertising controls, visit My Ad Center and turn off personalized ads. That setting addresses ad personalization; your connected-app settings determine whether Google’s AI tools can continue accessing the content.

Google’s privacy controls have also faced scrutiny over location tracking. A recent lawsuit questioned how long Google keeps users’ location data, another reason to review what your account saves.

Before connecting an inbox or photo library for better recommendations, check both sets of controls. Permissions that help plan your next vacation can now affect the ads you see.

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Author Details

Thomas Kent

About the Author

Thomas Kent is a multi-disciplined reporter with over a decade of experience covering online platforms, digital trends, and consumer-facing tech. Tom focuses on digital privacy, data tracking, and user behavior, with a particular interest in how cookies, online surveillance, and platform design shape the modern internet experience. His reporting takes a research-driven, news-focused approach, translating complex technical topics into clear, accessible insights.