"You may choose to allow certain Google services, including services like Search or Gemini Apps, to access data from other Google services you use, such as Google Photos and Workspace apps like Gmail and Drive, in order to provide you with a more personalized experience, subject to the policies and settings of the accessing service," reads a policy update effective October 16, 2026, Google says in its revised privacy notice.
Google's October 16, 2026 privacy-policy update
On October 16, 2026, Google revised its privacy policy to explain how personalized AI features in Search and Gemini can interact with data from other Google services. The policy explicitly states that Search "may process some of the data that you allow Search to access to personalize content, including ads." It also clarifies an important caveat: "We don't show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos, unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads."
Personal Intelligence in Gemini and its current rollout
The disclosure ties directly to Personal Intelligence, a feature Google introduced in Gemini in January 2026. Personal Intelligence allows users to connect services such as Gmail, Google Photos, and YouTube so AI can provide tailored answers that draw on those services combined with chat-history preferences. Google is rolling the feature out as a beta to eligible users over age 18 globally, though the rollout excludes the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the U.K., and Nigeria.
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See what we buildWhen Gmail, Photos, or Drive data can be used to target ads
The policy makes the mechanics clear: content stored in Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos is not used for ad personalization by default. That changes when a user actively enables integrations through Personal Intelligence and then interacts with AI Mode or Gemini while Personal Intelligence is enabled. In that scenario, the policy explains, "the data that informs those answers (i.e., content from Gmail or Photos) could be used as a signal to serve targeted ads." Put plainly, feeding personal emails or images into Google's AI tools while Personal Intelligence is enabled can make that content part of the signals Google uses for ad personalization.
Options for users: disconnecting apps and disabling personalization
Google sets out user controls tied to this change. Users who prefer not to have content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos contribute to personalization can either disconnect individual apps from Personal Intelligence or turn off Personalized Recommendations entirely via the Search Services Personalization settings (listed in the policy as "www.google[.]com/search-personalization"). The company frames those steps as the path to opt out of the privacy trade-off implicit in linking services to AI features.
OpenAI's parallel advertising moves
For context, the policy note arrives as ad-supported AI offerings gain traction elsewhere. In January 2026 OpenAI began showing ads to logged-in adult U.S. users in both free and ChatGPT Go tiers, while saying users' data and conversations are protected and "never sold to advertisers." OpenAI emphasized that ads do not influence chatbot responses and that users are "in control of the experience." Earlier this week, OpenAI said it expanded advertising on ChatGPT to 26 more countries, bringing the total to 89 — a move the company said included 14 more Latin American countries and additional markets across Europe, Africa, and Asia. OpenAI reiterated: "We keep conversations private from advertisers and do not sell customer data," and added that "Ads in ChatGPT are clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT's answers, and advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides."
What this means for end users, enterprise admins, and privacy regulators
- End users: Those who value tailored AI answers will face an explicit trade-off; enabling Personal Intelligence can improve personalization but may allow content from Gmail, Photos, and Drive to become signals for targeted ads.
- Enterprise admins and workspace users: Any decision to link Workspace apps to consumer-facing AI features will involve choices about data flow and ad-related signal use; the policy highlights a binary control — connect services or disconnect them — and a global beta rollout with specific country exclusions.
- Privacy regulators and policymakers: The policy distinguishes default non-use of Drive/Gmail/Photos for ad personalization from the conditional use that begins when users opt in to cross-service AI features, a distinction regulators will likely read as an attempt to make consent decisions overt and actionable.
Android Authority was first to report the policy update. The change reads as a straightforward mapping of Google’s product choices onto user privacy controls: enable Personal Intelligence to get more personalized AI answers, and accept that some of the same inputs may be used as signals for targeted ads; decline, and those inputs stay excluded from ad personalization. The concrete next step is in users' hands — the settings at "www.google[.]com/search-personalization" — and the policy makes that a clear yes-or-no decision.
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/google-says-gmail-and-photos-data.html