A new AI chatbot is being tested to help publishers quickly diagnose and resolve ad campaign issues. The tool, called Ask Ad Manager, aims to cut down on manual work and speed up troubleshooting. Wider rollout is expected later this year.
Publisher ad operations teams may soon spend less time untangling campaign issues, as Google Ad Manager (GAM) is beta testing an AI-powered chatbot designed to accelerate troubleshooting and reporting. The new tool, Ask Ad Manager, is currently available to a select group of publishers, with a broader release planned for later in 2026, according to the company.
Ask Ad Manager is built to address three core challenges for ad ops professionals. First, it provides instant support when campaigns underdeliver, aiming to identify the root cause and suggest actionable fixes. Second, it enables users to ask detailed questions about bidder performance and compare campaign results to industry benchmarks. Third, it offers a navigation feature that guides users directly to the relevant sections of the GAM interface to implement changes or access data.
While the chatbot can diagnose problems and recommend solutions, it does not make changes autonomously-human intervention is still required. Peentoo Patel, senior director of product management for Google Ad Manager, said the tool is expected to evolve, potentially allowing publishers to automate some reporting and troubleshooting tasks in the future. For now, the focus is on reducing the hours ad ops teams spend on manual processes, such as managing email threads and interpreting complex spreadsheets.
Ask Ad Manager leverages Google’s Gemini AI technology and is grounded in first-party data from the publisher, along with GAM’s established benchmarking data. It does not access data from other publishers or third-party sources. The tool respects publisher controls, only addressing features that have been enabled within each GAM account. For example, if a publisher uses GAM solely for reporting or billing, the chatbot will not suggest actions outside those areas.
Using the chatbot is straightforward: if a campaign line item is underperforming, a team member can enter the line item number and receive a diagnosis-whether it’s a simple creative issue or a more complex delivery problem. Previously, resolving such issues could take hours or days, but the chatbot aims to cut that time significantly. It can also assist with more advanced tasks, such as analyzing bidder performance or advising on pricing floor adjustments to improve win rates. Once suggestions are made, the navigation feature directs users to the appropriate place in the interface to take action, a capability not previously available within GAM.
The beta version of Ask Ad Manager is free and has no query limits, though Patel indicated this may change with wider availability. The current test group includes both large and small publishers across desktop, mobile, and connected TV, with the beta phase starting in mid-June. As the tool is still early in testing, Google has not released data on its effectiveness or the frequency of inaccurate suggestions, but feedback from testers is being closely monitored.
GAM’s main priority is to determine whether the chatbot can help publishers improve yield and streamline daily troubleshooting. Patel noted that ad ops teams consistently request better tools for navigating the platform and increasing revenue. The launch of Ask Ad Manager reflects Google’s ongoing efforts to address these needs.
AI-driven tools for editorial and publishing workflows are gaining traction across the industry. For example, India Today recently piloted an AI system to forecast audience engagement before publishing, as detailed in this report on predictive analytics in newsrooms.
