“The only way to succeed in the AI era is with AI”: this is how Vidhya Srinivasan, Vice President of Google Ads and Commerce at Google, sums up the philosophy behind the new features announced at Google Marketing Live 2026, designed to radically change how we understand the relationship between AI and online advertising.
Let us take a look at what these new developments involve.
For some time now, users in the United States have been seeing ads within AI Mode, which Google has not yet rolled out to the rest of the world. That will remain the case for now, but this testing ground will be the first to trial two new ad formats through which Google envisions advertising that is more “useful and contextual.” In both cases, ads in AI Mode will continue to be clearly labeled as “Sponsored,” the company promises.
The first of these is Conversational Discovery Ads. Their appearance in AI Mode promises to be a logical evolution of the user’s “organic” interaction with this artificial intelligence. In the same way that Gemini answers questions by understanding context and responding naturally, the new ads understand the context of the user’s query and generate personalized ad creatives from a company offering a solution, highlighting specific relevant features.
Conversational Discovery Ads
The second format is Highlighted Answers. It will appear when AI Mode generates a list of recommendations. This means advertiser brands will be able to appear as the featured recommendation within those highlighted answers. But hold on, this is not a blank check to flood the user’s screen with ads. The highlighted answer will only appear “if the recommendation is high quality and relevant to the search.”
Highlighted answers
Direct offers already existed as a pilot program in the U.S., but they are now being expanded with new features aimed primarily at the hotel industry: promotional packages and new travel offers. The idea is for brands to upload promotions such as discounts, freebies, and local coupons, and for Gemini to combine them to present the most attractive offer. The tool will also soon include hotel booking offers from travel partners such as Booking and Expedia in the U.S. directly within a person’s AI-assisted travel planning.
As we explained in another article, Google is reinventing the way people search online through AI, incorporating new features designed to better respond to user intent, including agentic capabilities.
Advertising is not going to be left behind, with the arrival of the “business agent for commercial customers.” This new feature leverages Gemini’s capabilities to place a brand agent directly within the ad. The goal? To allow shoppers to chat with an agent trained on the advertiser’s website. “In this way, a helpful interaction becomes a valuable sales opportunity,” Google explains.
Business agent for leads
Meanwhile, users in the United States will also be the first to experience the new AI-powered shopping ads. Gemini will show shopping ads relevant to the user’s search, along with an explanation of why they could be the right option, even anticipating specific needs before the user asks.
AI-powered shopping ads
We could call it preemptive advertising.
Image: Gemini and Google
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