Microsoft Advertising confirmed this week that Predictive Matching, a Search campaign feature, is being retired and folded into AI Max, the company's broader artificial intelligence layer for search advertising. The change appeared as a notice inserted into several Microsoft Advertising help documents, including the page explaining keyword match types, rather than as a standalone press release. The notice reads, in full: "Predictive Matching is moving to Search term matching within AI Max. AI Max builds on existing matching capabilities with enhanced AI-powered intent understanding, improved transparency, and additional optimization features. No action is required at this time. Updates will be shared as they become available," according to Microsoft's help documentation. No effective date accompanies the notice. Microsoft has not said whether the transition is already underway for some accounts, scheduled for a future date, or being rolled out gradually across regions and account types. Predictive Matching operated as a supplementary layer on top of an advertiser's existing keyword list, drawing on four inputs—an advertiser's final URL, ad titles, ad text, and existing keywords—to identify new, highly relevant search queries that the keyword list alone might not have captured. Microsoft's keyword match types—broad match, phrase match, and exact match—determine how closely a search query must resemble an advertiser's chosen keyword before an ad becomes eligible to show.