In short: Dynamic Search Ads are ending. AI Max for Search hit GA on April 15, 2026. From September 2026 Google auto-upgrades every remaining DSA campaign, plus auto-created assets and broad match, into AI Max. After that no new DSA can be created. Run an ADOPT_AI_MAX experiment now and measure the real CPA and ROAS delta before the switch is forced.
Dynamic Search Ads have a shutdown date. AI Max for Search reached general availability on April 15, 2026, and from September 2026 Google auto-upgrades every remaining DSA campaign into AI Max, together with automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match. After that, no new DSA campaign. Not in the UI, not in Editor, not through the API.
What changes
AI Max bundles three things: search-term matching, text customization and final-URL expansion. Google reports about +7 % conversions or conversion value for the full feature set over term matching alone. The price is control. Matching, asset text and landing-URL choice all move to the model.
The +7 % is a vendor figure for the full feature set, not a promise for your account. The point of the API experiment below is to replace that number with your own.
Why it matters
You do lose granularity, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But Google built guardrails into the API in step with the rollout: enable_ai_max (v21), TargetingExpansionView for keywordless metrics (v22), MatchedLocationInterestView for geo performance (v23), and text guidelines with term exclusions and messaging restrictions (v23.1). Brand and compliance rules survive the automation. You just have to set them.
How to automate the test
Don’t wait until September to find out what the upgrade does to your accounts. Version 24.1 shipped an ADOPT_AI_MAX experiment type built for exactly this. In twelve years on the Google Ads API I’ve watched plenty of forced migrations, and the accounts that measured early always came out ahead. Run the experiment now, read the real CPA and ROAS delta on your own data, and walk into the forced upgrade knowing what it costs or earns. A script that finds every DSA campaign, launches the experiment and reports the delta turns a mandatory migration into a measured one. It also buys you weeks to tune brand and location guardrails before the switch is permanent.
For how this fits the rest of the year’s Google API changes, see our Google API year in review.
