Meta adds AI ad-creation tools and begins trials of conversational campaign controls

Meta is giving advertisers more tools to make ads with AI while beginning tests of an assistant that can act on campaign instructions. Its October 6, 2026 announcement combines a wider Ads Creative Studio rollout with video generation and customer-acquisition tools. Conversational campaign creation, targeting changes and budget adjustments remain in testing, rather than broadly available.

From creative results to the next video

Ads Creative Studio is reaching more advertisers after initial tests over the past several months. The workspace helps marketers understand which creative material is performing well and why. Meta is also bringing those creative-performance insights into its AI business assistant, putting them alongside the campaign strategy marketers are developing in Ads Manager.

For production, Advantage+ creative tools now let advertisers generate video from existing still images and other static assets, with general availability. In Ads Creative Studio, marketers can generate video concepts and variations, then change the opening hook, audio or clip length. Editing tools also support text overlays, captions and changes to the ending scene.

A separate catalog workflow turns product images into product videos at scale. That capability is in beta for eligible advertisers, through Advantage+ video generation in Ads Manager and the product-video creator in Commerce Manager. Meta says video accounts for more than 60% of time spent on Facebook and Instagram, its stated rationale for widening these tools.

An assistant that remembers—and prepares actions

The Meta AI business assistant works inside Ads Manager, helping marketers plan, configure, optimize and measure campaigns. Meta says it now retains deeper business context between conversations, including previous-quarter experiments, seasonal patterns and stated goals. The company is testing imports of strategy, brand voice and guidelines from other AI tools marketers already use.

The new agentic capabilities—tools that perform tasks rather than only offer advice—are beginning tests. Meta says marketers will be able to ask the assistant to create a campaign, generate images and text, update targeting or change a budget. Previews, approvals and controls are intended to let advertisers choose what to delegate and what to retain.

Scheduled tasks and alerts are also being tested for recurring work: performance monitoring, weekly summaries and reminders to review budgets. Meta says advertisers who adopt the assistant’s recommendations typically see 5% more conversions at the same cost per conversion than those who do not. That company comparison concerns recommendation use, not the newly tested campaign-action capabilities.

For large advertisers and agencies, Meta’s announcement also describes added workflows through the Meta Ads MCP server, which supports campaign work inside other AI tools. Marketers can upload creative assets, preview Facebook and Instagram ads, and track performance. Agent-prepared work arrives as a draft in Ads Manager; actions follow advertiser-defined permissions, with explicit approval required before publication.

Finding new customers without rebuilding exclusions

Customer Lifecycle Strategy is now available to all advertisers. Marketers can designate a campaign for acquiring new customers and receive recommendations for excluding existing ones, rather than assembling those exclusions from scratch. Meta is also testing a shortcut that would exclude an entire existing-customer group with one Audience Label.

Another audience tool is scheduled for Detailed Targeting later in 2026. Advertisers will describe their ideal customer in everyday language, and Ads Manager will suggest relevant audiences for them to keep or discard. In the coming months, Meta also plans to scale product recommendations that analyze an ad’s image, text and landing page, then suggest related catalog items or bestsellers to pair with it.