At the I/O2026 conference held on May 20, 2026, Google announced the most thorough overhaul of its core search business in 25 years. With the full integration of Gemini 3.5 Flash, Google officially launched a series of new ad formats driven by AI, completely breaking the boundaries between traditional search ads and search results, transforming ads from "passive displays" into "active conversational services."

1. Deep Integration: How AI Reshapes Ad Formats?

The new ads introduced by Google aim to make commercial information a natural part of the user's decision-making process through Gemini's reasoning capabilities:

AI Shopping "Interpreter": Gemini no longer simply displays product links but generates a persuasive "purchase rationale" in real time based on the user's personalized search needs, explaining why the product precisely addresses their current pain points.

Conversational "Shopping Assistant": Some ad placements now include an interactive "Ask" button. When users click it, they can directly engage in a conversation with the brand's built-in AI assistant, which provides 24/7 real-time support based on the company's website data and allows users to fill out forms directly in the chat window, significantly shortening the path from search to conversion.

Full-Screen and Highlighted Immersive Display: For specific decision-related questions, AI automatically retrieves and displays a full-screen sponsored product recommendation below the generated summary. At the bottom of the recommendation list, high-quality brand ads are prominently highlighted.

2. "Search as Execution": From Information Matching to Business Closure

According to Google's advertising business vice president, this transformation aims to make ads a "valuable addition in the conversation." This means:

Deep Penetration of Commercial Scenarios: Ads are no longer "foreign elements" that disrupt the user's search experience but are instead integrated into the AI summary through Gemini's logic, achieving seamless connection between search and consumption behavior.

A Comprehensive Upgrade in Interactivity: Ad placements have evolved into mini-applications (Mini-Apps), enabling more complex commercial operations through AI conversations, such as financial appointments, product Q&A, and service subscriptions.

3. Industry Restructuring: New Challenges Brought by AI Advertising

Google's move has improved ad conversion efficiency while also prompting deep reflection within the industry:

Reconstruction of Traffic Logic: When AI directly provides the "final answer" on the search page and embeds commercial links, the traditional logic of obtaining clicks through web pages is greatly weakened.

Commercial Negotiations: Advertisers need to relearn how to define their "expression boundaries" using AI marketing tools like Performance Max, so that Gemini can more accurately capture their commercial value.

Ecosystem Controversies: Although Google has maintained restraint in the Gemini standalone app, its commercial activities on the core search path have sparked widespread discussions about the balance between search fairness and user experience.

Currently, these conversational and interactive ad formats have started testing in the U.S. market on mobile and desktop platforms. As AI moves from an "information provider" to a "decision assistant," search ads are evolving from simple keyword matching into precise and efficient AI-driven business conversations.