In recent months, we have seen a significant number of advances in integrating AI into the ad creation process, including some very relevant ones from today’s main character, Google. It is becoming increasingly easy to use all kinds of artificial intelligence tools to cover the entire process, from coming up with the idea to launching and managing the campaign, and Google has been putting more and more power into advertisers’ hands.
And, of course, as you already know, with great power comes great responsibility (Yes, I admit it, I am really looking forward to finally seeing the new Spider-Man movie).
In a recent announcement, the advertising giant revealed the rollout of new measures so consumers can identify when an ad has been created with AI. Users around the world will now be able to access the new “How this ad was created” section from the My Ad Center panel, which can be reached by clicking the three-dot menu or the information icon on Search, YouTube, and Discover ads.
In this way, Google will indicate whether an ad was created or edited with artificial intelligence.
Specifically, when advertisers use Google’s generative AI advertising tools, Google itself will directly add a notice in the My Ad Center panel for each ad. If brands have used AI tools other than Google’s, they will also be able to disclose that through the control panel.
In response to this announcement, you have probably wondered whether this new feature is really practical.
The short answer would be something like, “not really.”
That is to say, it is fine, it is a step in the right direction, but realistically, it is quite unlikely to reach a meaningful share of the billions of consumers who see these campaigns every day while browsing online. Google’s position assumes that consumers will know what those three dots are for… and, well, that they will also know what to do once they reach the My Ad Center panel (which many of them will never have visited in their lives).
If Google truly wanted to be transparent on this issue, it would take the simplest possible step: apply a “created with AI” label, or something similar, to every ad creative that included AI in its creation process. Then, if consumers wanted to learn more, they could click the three dots and access additional information in their ad center.
In fact, Google itself explains that “depending on local requirements, a label may also appear directly on the ad, either automatically or when the advertiser uses this control.” We will have to wait and see whether that label is ultimately shown in our case.
Probably the clearest example of why identifying AI in campaign-related images matters came to us, unintentionally, from Amazon, which a few days ago announced the rollout of a new tool that makes it possible to generate product images… regardless of whether those images actually match the real product consumers will find when they click on them.
That, clearly, can create misleading expectations among consumers.
At the very least, Amazon displays a line of text (in small print, very small print) saying that they were generated with AI, something Google, for now and on a broad global scale, still refuses to do prominently (leaving it in the hands of each country’s regulations).
Image: Google and ChatGPT
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