Google’s AI Push Comes With a Privacy Catch: Your Gmail and Photos Data Could Inform Ads

Google has quietly changed its privacy policy for personalized ads, creating a new pathway for data from Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos to inform advertising when users connect those services to Google’s AI tools.

The change, effective Oct. 16, comes as Google expands Personal Intelligence, Gemini and AI Mode, raising fresh questions about whether the convenience of AI is gradually eroding the firewall around users’ most personal data.

The policy previously stated that Google did not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The revised language keeps that statement but adds an important exception: Google says the data can be used when users choose to make information from those services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.

Personal Intelligence is the Link Between Private Data and Ads

The change matters because of Personal Intelligence, Google’s effort to connect personal information across its services to make AI responses more useful. When enabled, features such as Gemini and AI Mode can draw on information from Gmail, Drive and Photos.

That could mean an AI search request about a trip can use a hotel reservation buried in Gmail to provide recommendations around the hotel. But the same connected information can potentially contribute to personalized content, including ads, under Google’s updated policy.

The policy now says Google does not show personalized ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.”

Google says the connection is opt-in and insists the change does not mean advertisers receive access to users’ private information.

Google stated: “Connecting your apps is entirely opt-in. Ads will continue to be relevant to things like your query, the context of the response and your interests. Ads will not be based directly on your Gmail inbox or Photos library, and as always, sensitive information will not be used to tailor ads.”

The company also says advertisers do not receive users’ Gmail, Drive or Photos content or personally identifying information such as names and email addresses through this process. It maintains that sensitive categories including race, religion, sexual orientation and health are not used to personalize ads.

Not Scanning the Inbox for Ads!

The distinction is important. The policy change does not mean Google has announced that it will scan every Gmail message or photograph and directly use that information to build advertising profiles.

Instead, the concern is what happens after users voluntarily connect their data to services that can personalize both AI experiences and advertising. Search may process information that a user has allowed it to access and use some of that information to personalize content, including ads.

That creates a potentially important difference between the AI experience and the advertising experience.

A user may connect Gmail because they want Gemini or Search to understand their reservations, purchases or plans. The updated policy makes clear that data made available through those connections can also enter services that support personalized advertising.

Google has said the clarification does not represent a change in how it handles data with advertising partners. The company is not handing advertisers the underlying Gmail, Drive or Photos files.

The privacy implications nevertheless become more complicated as Google’s products become increasingly interconnected. The more personal information users make available across the ecosystem, the more services can potentially process that information.

Turning Off Ads is not the Same as Disconnecting Your Data

Users who do not want Gmail, Drive or Photos information to flow into Google’s AI-connected ecosystem can disconnect those apps through their Google Account settings.

The relevant controls are under Data & privacy > Personalization settings > Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search Services > Connected Content Apps, where users can disconnect Workspace and Google Photos.

Android Authority also cautioned that information already collected may remain in Search Services History even after connected apps are disconnected. Separately, disabling personalized ads does not necessarily eliminate the underlying AI personalization connection.

The policy change arrives alongside another Google privacy issue involving Android phone numbers.

Google has been automatically verifying a device’s phone number and associating it with every Google account signed into the same Android device, including secondary and work accounts. Google’s documentation was updated between August and October 2025 to reflect the behavior.

Another Layer to the Privacy Debate

Users can turn off “Verify phone numbers automatically” by going to Android Settings, opening Google or Google services and preferences, selecting All Services, then Phone number verification under Privacy & Security.

However, disabling the feature only prevents future linking; phone numbers already attached to accounts must be manually removed from each Google Account.

Google says phone verification supports features including account recovery, RCS messaging, finding a lost device and other services. It can also support features such as phone-number sign-in and Quick Share.

The developments point to a broader issue in Google’s expanding AI strategy: personal data is becoming more useful precisely because the company is connecting more of its products. Personal Intelligence promises better, more contextual AI answers, but the updated advertising language shows that those connections can have consequences beyond AI.

For users, the choice is increasingly less about whether Google has their data, it already does, and more about which Google services are allowed to use that data, and for what purpose.