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Google Ads Finally Shows Its Work on AI Max

September 24, 2026

Google is adding a new reporting feature to AI Max and bringing AI Brief to more languages, according to a blog post from Google Ads this week.

Here's why the reporting piece is the one to watch. AI Max expands your search campaigns automatically, pulling in new keywords and creative combinations you didn't write and often can't see. That's been the trade for the automation: you get reach, you lose visibility. You've been handing Google a budget and a "trust us."

Better reporting changes that math. If you can actually see how AI Max is spending inside a campaign, you can finally answer the question your VP keeps asking: is this thing outperforming the manually built campaigns, or just outspending them. Right now a lot of marketing directors can't answer that with a straight face.

What to actually do with this: don't turn on the new reporting and glance at it once. Pull it against your ILS spend for the same properties, same month, same lead volume, and see which channel is actually earning the dollar. If AI Max reporting shows you're paying a premium for reach you were already getting organically, that's real ammunition for the next budget conversation. If it shows AI Max finding intent your manual campaigns miss, that's ammunition too, just in the other direction.

The AI Brief language expansion is smaller news for most US-based teams, but worth a look if you run campaigns for bilingual markets. Google didn't specify which languages are being added. Worth checking before you assume your market's covered.

Source: Google Ads, September 23, 2026