Google Will Use AI to Reframe Your Performance Max Videos, Opt Out by September 4

Google started notifying Performance Max advertisers on August 17 that it will use generative AI to fill in missing video aspect ratios, and the opt-out window closes September 4. If you've only ever uploaded a horizontal 16:9 video to a PMax campaign, Google will now generate a 9:16 vertical cut and a 1:1 square version using AI, and it applies to video assets you already approved and shipped, not just new uploads. This one is worth acting on before the deadline rather than reading about it afterward.

What the Feature Actually Does

Performance Max serves video across placements with very different aspect ratios, YouTube in-stream is typically horizontal, Shorts and Stories are vertical, some Display and Discover slots are square. When an advertiser only supplies one orientation, Google has historically either skipped those placements for that asset or stretched and cropped it crudely. The new system instead uses generative AI to create the missing orientations by inventing new background and edge content rather than simply cropping, meaning a 16:9 video reframed to 9:16 keeps roughly a third of the original width and fills the rest with AI-generated material extending outward from what's there.

Why This Is Riskier Than It Sounds

Cropping a video loses information at the edges. Generative reframing invents new information at the edges, and that's a meaningfully different risk profile. A logo positioned in a corner, a burned-in text overlay, a legally required disclaimer sitting near the frame boundary, all of these live in exactly the zone that generative extension is filling in without human review. This applies retroactively to video assets you already approved and shipped, so the risk isn't limited to future creative you'll get a chance to design around, it's live now on campaigns already running.

What to Do Before September 4

• Audit your PMax video assets for anything positioned near the frame edges. Logos, disclaimers, captions, and CTAs sitting in the outer third of a horizontal frame are the highest-risk elements if that video gets reframed to vertical.
• Opt out through your account team or Google's opt-out form if you run regulated, compliance-sensitive, or brand-strict creative. The deadline is September 4, and video settings can be changed later, but only proactively, not automatically reverted.
• If you're comfortable with the feature, supply your own vertical and square cuts instead of relying on AI generation. Providing all three aspect ratios yourself removes the need for Google to generate anything, giving you full control over what shows in every placement.

An AI feature that reframes creative you already approved, without a second review, is exactly the kind of change worth checking against your actual assets before the opt-out window closes, not after a client asks why their disclaimer disappeared from a vertical placement. If you run video in Performance Max and want your creative audited against this risk before September 4, our Google Ads team can review your assets and opt-out settings this week.