IAB updates AI disclosure recommendations as legislation evolves

The Wild West of AI use in advertising is getting some more suggested clarity, courtesy of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The IAB today released an update to its “AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework,” which accounts for regulation changes in New York, California, South Korea, and the European Union requiring disclosures of certain AI use in advertising.

It’s the first update since the IAB released the guidance in January, and while the fast-moving regulatory landscape means more changes will likely be required, the aim is to help provide top-level guidance, according to Caroline Giegerich, VP of AI at the IAB.

“There’s been a lot of legislation that has matured, come into effect,” Giegerich told Marketing Brew. “Even doing the legislation section for this Part 2, I’m constantly thinking: ‘Am I missing something new?’ And I know that it’ll be out of date by literally one day, but this is just kind of the environment we’re living in…I still think [the framework update] has an intention as the voice of the industry.”

For now, the IAB suggests that advertisers use “targeted disclosure rather than universal labeling, particularly when AI use materially affects authenticity, identity, or representation in ways that could mislead consumers,” according to a release about the new framework. In other words, the organization suggests that the decision to use a label should be informed by the ways marketers use AI in the ad.

For marketers, that means the IAB suggests disclosure when using AI-prompted images and videos, as well as “some” synthetic voices, avatars, digital twins of deceased individuals or living individuals, AI chatbots or assistants, according to the organization, which also notes that advertisers can use a “standardized sparkle icon or text label” to disclose the use of the technology.

The IAB also provided areas where marketers may not need to disclose the use of AI, including “routine postproduction, internal workflows, clearly fantastical imagery, authorized synthetic voices of real individuals, generic synthetic voices, background music, standard audio enhancement, digital twins in standard brand endorsement, obvious cartoon or stylized aviators, text or copy.”

“Our overall perspective is if it’s not labeled, and it causes consumer deception,” then that could be a problem, Giegerich said. If a consumer purchased an under-eye cream because of a TikTok endorsement, she said by way of example, only to realize afterward that the product’s so-called results had been depicted using AI, that could be misleading and potentially problematic.

Earlier this year, New York State’s AI disclosure law, which requires advertisers be transparent about the use of “synthetic performers” in advertising materials, went into effect. At the time, marketers told us that increased transparency about the use of the technology was a positive development.

“Consumers in this market demand transparency more than they ever have before,” Johnny Rohrbach, co-founder and global head of partnerships at Silverside.AI, told us at the time. “AI is very much a medium through which to tell stories, but I don’t think it makes sense from a business perspective to try and hide the fact that you were using it.”