Google Unveils AI Tools to Help Brands, Retailers Drive Commerce Growth – PYMNTS.com
Highlights
Google is expanding ads into AI Overviews and AI Mode to boost visibility in AI-powered Search.
New creative tools like Veo, Imagen and Asset Studio help marketers quickly generate video and image content.
Smart Bidding Exploration and agentic assistants streamline campaign optimization and uncover untapped growth.
Google on Wednesday (May 21) unveiled a slew of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools to help brands drive growth in shopping and ad effectiveness.
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“The future of advertising fueled by AI isn’t coming — it’s already here,” said Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president and general manager of Google Ads and Commerce, at Google Marketing Live 2025. “We’re reimagining the future of ads and shopping.”
Srinivasan unveiled a suite of tools designed to turn challenges into business opportunities — from smarter bidding strategies to creative content generation and agentic assistants.
Google’s enhanced AI tools come as the search giant faces the biggest challenge to its business in its history, as AI chatbots start to siphon away search and shopping queries.
On Tuesday (May 20) at the Google I/O conference, Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled a new AI-powered Search that would integrate new capabilities, essentially turning Search into one integrated AI chatbot. It would be powered by Gemini 2.5, Google’s most advanced AI model.
Search’s new features include agentic checkout and virtual try-ons. AI agents can shop for and even autonomously pay for online orders, with the user’s permission. Search can even bring up things like clothing for users to virtually try on, after uploading their full-length body photo.
Google is doubling down on its shopping features as rivals such as OpenAI and Perplexity AI target shoppers. OpenAI hired Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to go after consumer applications business, while Perplexity is offering PayPal as a checkout option for its AI chatbot responses.
See more: OpenAI Gaining Market Share in AI Tools, With Google a Far Second
According to a PYMNTS Intelligence report, “From Spark to Strategy: How Product Leaders Are Using GenAI to Gain a Competitive Edge,” GenAI is helping companies develop new products and services by accelerating ideation, streamlining workflows and restacking worker requirements.
According to the report, chief product officers recognize the value of GenAI, yet how they use it is still evolving. They are exploring where the technology fits best and how to use it more productively. They do expect GenAI to drive speed to market and enhance user experience.
Read more: The CAIO Report: From Spark to Strategy: How Product Leaders Are Using GenAI to Gain a Competitive Edge
Google is testing ads on AI Mode and expanding search and shopping ads in AI Overviews for the desktop in the U.S. The goal is to boost the visibility of ads from brands as users type in their search queries.
This means marketers using Performance Max, Shopping or Search campaigns with broad match — including AI Max for Search — may now see their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
According to Google, AI Overviews in major markets like the U.S. and India are already boosting overall search usage.
Creative tools are also getting an AI makeover.
Creating compelling visuals and video assets has long been a challenge for marketers, but Google is embedding its most advanced models, Veo and Imagen, directly into its ad ecosystem to simplify that process.
Highlights include the following:
“Today, we announced these cutting-edge features will soon be available within Google Ads and Merchant Center so that marketers can easily build campaigns and watch their creative vision come instantly to life,” Srinivasan said.
Google Ads is getting a major upgrade to its bidding infrastructure for the first time in over a decade. The new Smart Bidding Exploration tool allows advertisers to pursue “less obvious and potentially high-performing searches.”
For example, a mortgage lender already targeting terms like “home loan” might now appear on exploratory queries like “how to buy a home,” capturing new demand that traditional strategies would miss.
This tool helps marketers “appear in more of the moments where people are researching and discovering information on Search,” Srinivasan said.
Campaigns using Smart Bidding Exploration saw an average 18% increase in unique search queries with conversions and 19% more conversions, according to Google’s internal data.
Google is introducing agentic capabilities — AI-powered assistants that can act on a task — to streamline campaign management, content creation and performance analysis.
The AI agents offer brands personalized recommendations like keyword suggestions and then execute the tasks.
In Google Analytics, the AI “data expert” will find trends and visualize data to make insights more actionable.
See also: Google to Embed Agentic Checkout, Virtual Try-on in Search
Google is also launching Marketing Advisor, an AI agent that lives inside the Chrome browser. Once signed in, marketers receive proactive, step-by-step guidance tailored to their campaigns and goals.
To help marketers prove and improve ROI, Google is also upgrading its measurement stack:
“As we move AI in advertising from potential into practical, actionable solutions, we’re here to help marketers and businesses succeed,” Srinivasan said.
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