Google expands AI Max ad product into shopping and travel and adds AI Brief natural-language campaign controls

Google rolled out updates to its AI Max ad product this week, expanding it beyond search into shopping and travel campaigns and adding a feature called AI Brief that lets advertisers guide campaigns by describing messaging, targeting, and audience constraints in natural language rather than managing keywords and lists manually. The update, which came a day after parent Alphabet posted Q1 revenues of $110B up 22% annually, also includes Final URL expansion that uses AI to select the most relevant landing page per query and new text disclaimer controls for regulated categories. Brendon Kraham, Google's VP of search and commerce global ads solutions, said the system is designed to handle “longer, more sophisticated” natural-language queries, while Epiminds founder and former Google executive Elias Malm told Digiday he expects the trend to continue with new formats like responsive search ads where “you provide text assets, and it builds it together for optimal performance.”