Google stopped asking Search advertisers for permission on September 1, 2026. Any Search campaign already running automatically created assets or campaign level broad match got switched over to AI Max for Search that day, with no opt in step required. Dynamic Search Ads campaigns get more time, with Google’s own migration timeline pointing to February 2027 before those move automatically too. Google describes the new default settings as built to closely mirror an advertiser’s existing setup, but the practical effect is that query matching, ad text generation, and landing page selection now run through a system most accounts never configured by hand.
The conversion numbers being used to sell the switch do not agree with each other. Google’s own support documentation for AI Max states that advertisers typically see 14 percent more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost per action. That is the figure Google has repeated across its own pages describing the feature. A write up from the agency Go Fish Digital, covering the same rollout through briefings with Google, cited a 7 percent average lift instead. Two accounts of the same product, a few weeks apart, land on numbers roughly half of each other, and neither explains which campaign types, industries, or measurement windows the percentage actually covers.
The mismatch shows up in the campaigns themselves, not just the reporting. MediaPost documented a case where AI Max served ads against searches for “obgyn near me” inside a campaign built for appliance repair. That kind of error happens because AI Max matches queries against landing page content and inferred intent rather than a fixed keyword list, the same approach Dynamic Search Ads used before it. When the system reads a page’s content differently than a human would, the ad shows up somewhere nobody set a bid for.
Agencies actually running the migration describe acceptance with real reservations, not resistance. David Dweck at Go Fish Digital said his team remains skeptical about overlap between broad match and AI Max inside the same account, where both systems can end up bidding on the same irrelevant terms. Zachary Evans at Noble People said AI Max at least shows query, headline, and landing page level detail that Performance Max never did, even if the reasoning behind each match stays hidden. Alex Ayre at WTA pushed back on the idea that advertisers are losing meaningful control at all, since budget caps and bid strategy remain separate settings AI Max does not touch.
What this means day to day is less dramatic than the migration headlines suggest. Accounts that already abandoned Dynamic Search Ads on their own, which agencies say describes most of them, will barely notice September’s change. The accounts worth checking are the ones still running campaign level broad match without anyone reviewing search term reports weekly, since those are the ones now generating creative and expanding queries with the least human review in the loop. Before trusting either the 14 percent or the 7 percent figure, pull a before and after search terms report on your own account. That number will not match either headline, and it is the only one that matters for your budget.
Sources referenced in reporting: