Google I/O 2025 Recap: AI Takes Over Marketing
Published On: May 26, 2025
At this year’s Google I/O, the focus was clear: AI is no longer just an add-on—it’s built into the core of how Google expects users to search, shop, create, and advertise.
Held in Dublin, the conference introduced a range of updates that show how quickly marketing and consumer experiences are changing. From Gemini-powered summaries to creative automation and proactive assistants, Google’s newest tools aim to save time—but also ask marketers to give up some control.
Google also introduced “AI Mode,” a chat-style search experience where ads appear within the AI overviews that now lead many search results. While this opens up new ad placements, it also makes campaign targeting less transparent. Instead of focusing on keywords, marketers will need to align with broader themes and rely on Google’s systems to match ads to context.
New tools for automation and performance
Google launched AI Max for Search, which helps advertisers automatically target high-intent queries they aren’t already bidding on. This feature works with Smart Bidding and uses performance data to test new keyword themes.
While this can help uncover new opportunities, it also means more parts of the campaign strategy are handled automatically. For industries with strict compliance needs, this level of automation may require extra monitoring.
Performance Max campaigns also got an update. Marketers now have access to channel-level reporting and a new brand exclusion tool to avoid self-competition. These improvements offer more clarity, though much of the campaign logic still happens behind the scenes.
Generic marketing
Asset Studio, powered by Imagen 4 and Veo 3, now lets marketers create image and video ads from text prompts. The system can localize, resize, and adjust tones across assets. Google says this will help scale campaigns more efficiently.
But while the tools are fast, the output can feel generic. Without clear input and creative direction, brand identity can get diluted.
Google says marketers can still start from their own assets and tweak as needed, but the risk of appearing bland remains.
Shopping and visual commerce get a boost
Google’s virtual try-on now works with full-body images, helping users see how clothing fits their own body type. Shoppable video ads are also expanding beyond YouTube Shorts, now appearing in Masthead and Connected TV.
These updates push Google further into the visual commerce space, where TikTok and Amazon already compete.
Gemini 2.5 pushes AI boundaries
On the developer side, Google highlighted major upgrades to its Gemini 2.5 models. Gemini Pro now features Deep Think, an experimental reasoning mode that helps with complex tasks like advanced math or coding. It also includes thought summaries and thinking budgets, giving developers more control and transparency over how the model operates.
2.5 Flash, the lightweight version, was also improved to handle multimodal tasks more efficiently and is now available across Google AI Studio and the Gemini app.
Other updates include native audio output, affective dialogue features that respond to tone and emotion, and expanded support for multiple languages in text-to-speech, pushing AI closer to natural interaction.
Google also shared progress on Project Astra, their vision of a proactive, universal AI assistant. The assistant can now observe and act without prompts, whether that means pairing your headphones or helping with daily tasks based on what it sees or hears through a camera or microphone.