Google has a new beta within Google Ads for Al Max ad group settings with search term matching. This shows when AI Max is turned on and Google wrote in the setting, "Turning off search term matching will use only your provided keywords and match types, which will limit the performance boost of Al Max."
This was spotted by Thomas Eccel who wrote on LinkedIn, "AI Max settings on Ad Group Level are showing up in some accounts." "It shows Google's continued shift from manual keyword targeting to AI-driven intent prediction. The keywordless future," he added.
Here is his screenshot of this beta Google Ads feature:
Thomas explained:
(1) Search Term Matching expands your keywords to broad match automatically.
(2) Google AI uses landing page and asset content to find additional search term eligibility.
(3) Turning it off reverts the ad group to strict keyword + match type usage, and disabling the algorithmic expansion.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.