Meta's AI May Be Rewriting Your Facebook Ads: What to Check and Switch Off This Week

What Meta actually says

Meta groups most of these automatic changes under a feature it calls Advantage+ creative. On that help page, Meta says "The media and text you upload may be adjusted to help improve ad performance while maintaining the core message of your campaign." It also says "Some enhancements may be turned on by default, but you can turn them off at any time."

Some of those enhancements are simple formatting: adjusting brightness and contrast, cropping a photo to fit Stories, or choosing which carousel card shows first. Others use generative AI. Meta lists features such as image generation, image animation, AI-generated music, added text overlays, and "enhance media text," which Meta describes as rephrasing your original message into alternative text overlays.

A separate Meta page on text improvements explains that keywords and phrases from your ad copy can be "displayed directly or adjusted to fit better on or around your ad creative, such as text overlays, footers, prominent headlines and more." The same page shows the feature as turned on by default in the ad setup flow.

Meta is also clear about who reviews the output. Its developer documentation on generative AI features says "Advertisers are responsible for previewing ad creative featuring AI-generated creatives before publishing their ads," and that Meta "does not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, and accuracy" of suggested text, generated backgrounds, or expanded images. Meta's Ad Creative Generative AI Terms say AI output "may be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, offensive, and/or inappropriate," and that you are responsible for evaluating it before you use it. That page also notes Meta is folding those terms into its Self-Serve Ad Terms, effective November 20, 2026.

The plain-English version: Meta's tools can change your ad, some are on unless you turn them off, and checking the result is your job.

Why this matters more for local service businesses

For a clothing store, a rephrased headline is mostly a style question. For a plumber, roofer, HVAC company, dental office, or tax preparer, a rephrased headline can turn into a claim you cannot back up. "Fast, friendly service" becoming "same-day service guaranteed" is a real problem if you do not guarantee it. So is a generated image that shows equipment you do not install, a promotion you are not running, or wording that implies a license or certification you do not hold.

Meta itself treats regulated categories carefully. The text improvements page notes that financial services, health, and housing, employment, and credit ads, among others, may not have immediate access to all generative AI features. If you are in one of those fields, do not assume that means nothing is changing. Check anyway.

Where to find the settings in Ads Manager

Meta's help page on how to turn off Advantage+ creative enhancements describes two places to look. Menu names vary by account, ad format, and objective, and Meta changes them often, so treat this as a map rather than a script.

While creating a new ad:

In Ads Manager, click Create and work through the steps until you reach Ad setup.

In the Ad creative section, click Set up creative and continue until you reach Enhancements.

Turn off the individual enhancements you do not want, or customize them, then click Done.

Here is the step most people miss: Meta notes that some enhancements can only be turned off in Advanced preview. In the Ad preview panel, click Expand, open the Advantage+ creative tab, and check every card there too.

For ads that are already running:

Check the box next to the ad and click Edit.

Find the Advantage+ creative section. It shows how many enhancements are on. Click Edit.

Turn off what you do not want, check Advanced preview again, save, and publish the change.

If you have many ads in the same format, Meta also offers a bulk edit option: select the ads on the Ads tab, open the menu next to Edit, choose Advantage+ creative, and change the enhancements for all selected ads at once.

The weekly checklist I recommend

1. Preview every placement before publishing. In Advanced preview, the Placements tab shows how the ad looks in Feed, Stories, Reels, and elsewhere. Meta's own page reminds advertisers to check the preview before publishing. Click through the variation arrows on each enhancement card. If you would not sign your name under a version, turn that enhancement off.

2. Read every word that appears on the ad. Look specifically for:

Prices, discounts, or "percent off" language you did not write. Meta notes that some call-to-action features can add personalized promotional text.

Guarantees, warranties, or "same-day" and "24/7" promises.

Licensing, insurance, or certification wording.

Health, financial, or results claims of any kind.

Service areas or services you do not offer.

3. Keep a do-not-say list. Write down the phrases your business never uses: specific guarantees, competitor names, "cheapest," "certified" unless you are, medical or financial outcome language. Share it with whoever builds your ads, and check AI variations against it.

4. Spot-check running ads once a week. Enhancements can vary by who sees the ad and where. Once a week, open your active ads, check the Advantage+ creative status, and look at the previews again. It takes about ten minutes and catches drift early.

5. Re-check after every edit or duplicate. When you duplicate an ad or start a new campaign, defaults can come back. Do not assume a setting you switched off last month carried over.

Which enhancements to keep and which to switch off

There is no single right answer, and I would not tell anyone to turn everything off on principle. Some enhancements are low-risk and can help results. My rough rule for local service businesses:

Usually fine to keep: basic formatting, such as brightness and contrast, fitting your image to different placements, and reordering carousel cards. These change how your ad looks, not what it claims.

Review closely: music, added overlays of text you wrote yourself, and call-to-action changes. Check whether any added promotion is accurate.

Usually switch off for brand-sensitive or regulated businesses: anything that generates new text or images, such as text improvements, enhance media text, image generation, or background generation. These are the features most likely to produce a claim or picture that does not match your actual business.

If you test generative features, do it on one ad with careful review, not across your whole account.

What we still don't know

Meta does not publish exactly how each variation is chosen for each viewer, and it says enhancements may vary depending on who sees the ad. Feature availability differs by format, placement, industry, and country, and the names on screen change often. If your Ads Manager does not match the steps above, look for Advantage+ creative or Enhancements in the ad-level settings and check Meta's help pages for the current wording.

How Local Business Search can help

Local Business Search offers AI consulting and marketing for local businesses. If you would like a second set of eyes, we will audit your Meta ads settings, show you which enhancements are on, and help you set up AI tools the safe way, so they save you time without putting words in your mouth. Done-for-you how-to videos walking through these settings are coming soon.