Google's Gemini now writes ad copy, and advertisers can't edit it. Google unveiled four new AI-powered ad formats at its Marketing Live event on May 20, and the structural detail that matters most is one advertisers cannot control. Across two of the formats, Google's Gemini model generates an "independent AI explainer" that runs alongside each ad, synthesizing information about a product or service without advertiser input.
The creative is outside the brand's hands. The formats arrive as AI Mode, Google's conversational search surface, crosses 1 billion monthly users with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch. Searches in AI Mode average three times the length of traditional queries, and 1 in 6 are non-text.
Google is building ad units for that behavior rather than porting existing formats across.
Conversational Discovery ads respond to nuanced, multi-sentence prompts by generating ad creative tailored to the specific query. Google's example: a user asking how to make their home smell like "fancy spas or a rainy forest" using low-maintenance solutions.
Gemini reads the context, not just the product category, and constructs relevant ad copy on the fly. An independent AI explainer, generated by the model rather than the advertiser, accompanies each placement.
Highlighted Answers place ads directly inside AI Mode's recommendation lists. A user researching language learning apps might see a sponsored entry for Duolingo positioned within the AI-generated set, not above or below it. The format changes the fundamental placement logic of search advertising: the ad sits inside the answer itself, distinguishable only by a "Sponsored" label.
Google's Vidhya Srinivasan, VP and GM of Google Ads and Commerce, framed the shift in broader terms. "We are not just bringing ads to AI search experiences. We are reinventing what an ad is," she said at the event.
Standard Search gets two additional formats. AI-powered Shopping ads target high-consideration purchases like appliances and electronics. When a shopper searches for an espresso machine, Gemini pulls the most relevant products from Google's Shopping Graph (more than 60 billion listings as of April 2026) and writes a custom explainer at search time. The format rolls out in the US later this year.
Business Agent for Leads embeds a Gemini-powered chatbot trained on an advertiser's website directly inside a search ad. A student researching universities can click a "Chat" button within a sponsored result and receive answers drawn from the school's own content. The format is available in open beta in the US for English-language accounts.
Chief business officer Philipp Schindler told marketers the keyword era is ending. "You can't think in terms of simple keywords anymore, and you definitely can't manually choose them." Google expects capital expenditure to rise from $31 billion in 2022 to as much as $190 billion this year, driven by AI infrastructure investment.
Google is also expanding its Direct Offers pilot, adding promotion bundling, native checkout for Universal Commerce Protocol merchants, and travel partner integrations with Booking and Expedia within AI Mode. The pilot launched in January 2026 with brands including Chewy, Gap, and L'Oreal.
Dynamic Search Ads are being retired and automatically upgraded to AI Max starting September 2026, making AI-driven campaign infrastructure the default for advertisers who have not actively opted in. The formats announced May 20 give advertisers named products and defined mechanics, but the underlying message is clear: Google's model now decides what your ad says, where it appears, and how it talks to customers.
