AI Search Turns Inbox Into Ad Signals

Google's Gemini/Personal Intelligence can read content from connected Gmail, Drive and Photos to personalize search answers; although Google says advertisers never see your inbox, those AI‑shaped answers can guide which sponsored results are shown, meaning opt‑in data can indirectly change ad targeting. The change lives in a privacy‑policy caveat and buried account settings that users must navigate to opt out. — Shows a new privacy frontier: opt‑in AI features can convert private app data into monetizable personalization even when that data isn't directly shared with advertisers, raising consent, transparency, and regulation problems.