Your Google Ads just joined AI Max without asking. Audit the defaults this week

Google’s Ads API team set the clock on 12 August. Through 30 September, Search campaigns still on campaign-level Broad Match or standalone Automatically Created Assets upgrade to AI Max in place. New legacy setups have been blocked since 3 August. Defaults differ by what you had, and extra copy or query matching can turn on without a meeting.

Google’s Ads API team published the timetable on 12 August. From 1 to 30 September 2026, Search campaigns still on campaign-level Broad Match or standalone Automatically Created Assets get a progressive, in-place move to AI Max. New legacy Broad Match and ACA setups have been blocked since 3 August across the UI, Editor and API. Existing brand inclusion and exclusion lists carry over.

Previously you could leave a Search campaign on campaign-level Broad Match or standalone Automatically Created Assets and treat those as separate levers. Now those campaigns join the AI Max bundle where they sit. The defaults are not one switch. Broad-match accounts wake up with search-term matching on, text customization off, and final URL expansion off. ACA accounts wake up with search-term matching on, text customization on, and final URL expansion off. That split is the trap for a small EU shop: Google starts writing extra copy in the ACA cohort, while extra query matching stays on in both. Final URL expansion stays off in both waves, which is the setting that would send people to pages you did not pick.

Dynamic Search Ads are not this month. You will see in-account upgrade banners now. Auto-migrate is February 2027. Do not treat a DSA banner as a September deadline.

Audit the three AI Max toggles this week, before October spend hits the defaults.

Google’s conversion-lift percentages stay unaudited. Independent work is mixed: conversion value can rise while ROAS sits flat. More conversions at worse efficiency is not a win if you are paying in euros into Q4. “Permanent opt-out forever” is marketing fiction. Current Google Ads help still lets you toggle AI Max and the three sub-settings after the campaign is on the new bundle.

Filter Search campaigns that used campaign-level Broad Match or ACA. Confirm whether AI Max is on. Match search-term matching, text customization and final URL expansion to what you actually sell. Tighten brand lists. Scan search terms and landing URLs. If you only needed tighter matching, turn the extras off. If Google already flipped you, you can still flip back this week, not after Q4 burns.