• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 22, 2024

Google said Thursday that it plans to integrate Gemini generative artificial intelligence (GAI) models into Performance Max, an advertising platform that allows advertisers to access all the company's advertising channels from one platform.

The integration is part of an ongoing effort to support conversational text and realistic images into more of its services. 

The company made several announcements around the features to help advertisers scale campaigns.

In the coming weeks, as Google upgrades its image generation models to Imagen 2, advertisers will have an option to generate lifestyle imagery using Performance Max that shows people in action. It’s not clear whether that means a still picture of a runner in stride, a dancer in motion, or a video.

Image editing will also include the ability to generate and add backgrounds that feature non-identifiable people. And when the creator has existing images that are performing well, they will have an option to generate new similar images.

Performance Max can now generate longer headlines, up to 90 characters versus the previous length of 30 characters. Sitelink generation is also coming soon. Both new features will use the Gemini model's reasoning capabilities to generate text assets.

Safety measures have been implemented to prevent brands from creating images of known people, including celebrities and other public figures, or images that portray violence, offensive or illegal activities. AI-created photos will have a watermark to identify them as synthetic images.

The quantity and diversity of assets will play a more significant role in determining Ad Strength for Performance Max campaigns. This acknowledges the important role Ad Strength plays to maximize the benefits from the platform across Google’s channels.

All these next-generation capabilities for advertisers are tied to Google’s AI principles and practices.