Google Updates Privacy Policy: Personal Data Could Influence Ads

    Google has updated its privacy policy. Under the change, the personal data of people who use personalized artificial intelligence features may influence ad selection. The company added a new exception to the document on October 16. The previous policy explicitly stated that data from Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos would not be used for personalized advertising. Now, that rule may not apply when a user shares this data with other services that display ads.    The change applies to people who use the Personal Intelligence feature to connect their Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos accounts to AI Mode and other Search tools. In such cases, the search service uses personal data to provide more relevant answers and recommendations. Under the new terms, depending on the settings selected by the user, that data may also be used to personalize ads.    Advertisers will not see data stored in Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos directly. The user’s name, email address, and other identifying information will also not be shared with advertisers. Google says it will not show ads based on sensitive information such as race, sexual orientation, religion, or health.    Under the updated policy, if a user grants permission, services such as Search and Gemini Apps may process data from Google Photos, Gmail, and Drive. The goal is to tailor content and ads to the user’s interests. For example, someone searching for a mountain bike may see an ad for sports equipment on YouTube. Whether this happens depends on the privacy and advertising settings in the account.    People who do not want their personal data used for targeted advertising can disconnect linked apps from the Personal Intelligence feature in Search. Personalized recommendations can also be disabled entirely on the Search Services Personalization settings page. This allows users to choose which services’ data AI tools can access.