Google puts «test» ads in AI Mode — and they use AI for targeting

If you’ve been using AI Mode or AI Overviews this week, you might have seen something familiar from Google: Ads.

Google has long been signaling their intent to start experimenting with ads in AI outputs, and thinks some relevant ads might be sufficient.

These ads can appear above, beneath and within the results, Google says. And adds:

— For ads to show within the AI Overviews, the ads must additionally be relevant to the content of the AI Overviews.

For Google’s AI Mode, they are still «testing» and have been running with select ads since May, 2025, writes Engadget.

To match you with relevant ads, or even glean some kind of intent from your query, Google uses AI, and then relies on its deep catalog of advertisers to find a match.

Read more: Brodie Clark’s discovery tweet, Search Engine Land, Engadget, Google on ads in AI Overviews.