On September 1, every Google Search campaign still running campaign-level broad match or Automatically Created Assets gets folded into AI Max for Search. Query matching, ad copy generation, and landing-page routing all move to Google’s AI at the same moment. No rollback, no staged consent, no per-lever opt-in.

The rollout runs through September 30, and the UI, Editor, and API stopped accepting new legacy configurations on August 3. Google notified advertisers by email on August 5, and Brandon Ervin, Director of Product Management at Google Ads, framed the change in an April 15 blog post as an average lift of 7% more conversions or conversion value at similar CPA/ROAS. That number is worth reading carefully. When AI Max entered open beta on May 6, 2025, Google promised 14%. The supporting 2026 dataset explicitly excludes retail.

Independent numbers point the other way. PPC Land’s November 2025 analysis of more than 250 retail campaigns found AI Max delivered conversions at roughly 35% lower ROAS than traditional match types. In August 2025, Ezra Sackett, Director of Paid Search at Monks, ran about 30,000 search terms through AI Max and found 99% of impressions produced zero conversions. Intelligency Group clocked Search Partner Network placements at a 37% lower return than Google Search proper. And as of August 2026, AI Max was already quietly capturing about 29% of exact-match keyword impressions before any explicit opt-in.

The mechanics matter for owners of 5 to 30 person shops who don’t have a paid-search desk. ACA campaigns arrive in AI Max with search term matching and text customization on by default, refreshing generated assets from the landing page at least every 48 hours. Broad match campaigns arrive with matching on, customization and URL expansion off. Google’s own docs warn that final URL expansion can break tracking templates and that non-standard lpurl constructions can 404. Search matching now runs on inferred intent, not literal query text, a shift Google confirmed in December 2025.

Disabling ACA and broad match before September 1 prevents the migration entirely. After that, the wheel belongs to Google.

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