Key Points
- The IAB released Version 2 of its “AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework.”
- The update gives advertisers, agencies, publishers, platforms and technology partners guidance on when to tell consumers that artificial intelligence was used in advertising or marketing content.
- The framework calls for disclosure when AI materially affects authenticity, identity or representation.
- IAB says the guidance is meant to avoid two risks: failing to disclose AI use when consumers could be misled and labeling so much content that disclosures become meaningless. It comes after lawmakers in places like New York and California issued new AI disclosure requirements in recent years.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) on Tuesday released updated guidance for the different ways advertisers, agencies, publishers, platforms and technology companies should disclose the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in consumer-facing advertising.
The trade group released Version 2 of its “AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework,” expanding on guidance first issued around the start of the year. The framework is intended to help the advertising industry determine when AI use should be disclosed to consumers and when it should not.
The update comes as advertisers increase their use of generative AI across creative development, production, personalization and customer engagement. It also arrives as regulators in the United States, Europe and Asia are moving from discussion to enforcement on AI labeling and disclosure rules.
IAB said the framework takes a targeted approach to disclosure, rather than calling for labels on every advertisement that involves AI in some way. The group said universal labeling could cause consumers to ignore AI notices while creating unnecessary risk for advertisers.
“Trust is everything between a brand and its customers, and being honest about AI is part of earning it,” Caroline Giegerich, the Vice President of AI at IAB, said in a statement on Tuesday. “That said, not every use of AI needs a label — labeling everything teaches consumers to ignore labels and could negatively impact advertisers.”
The framework calls for disclosure when AI use materially affects authenticity, identity or representation in ways that could mislead consumers. IAB said that includes images and videos generated from prompts, some synthetic voices, synthetic avatars, digital twins of deceased people, digital twins of living people placed in fabricated situations outside standard brand endorsements and AI chatbots or assistants that consumers could mistake for humans.
The group said other AI uses generally should not require disclosure. Those include routine post-production, internal workflows, clearly fantastical imagery, authorized synthetic voices of real people, generic synthetic voices, background music, standard audio enhancement, digital twins used in normal brand endorsements, obvious cartoon or stylized avatars and text or copy.
“The working group’s central challenge was avoiding two failure points,” Giegerich noted. “Under-disclosure leaves consumers at risk of being misled; over-disclosure could risk negatively impacting advertisers.”
IAB said consumer research conducted with Sonata Insights helped shape the framework. The research found that more than half of consumers wanted brands to disclose when an ad was fully AI-generated or used AI imagery or video. It also found that 73 percent of Gen Z and millennial consumers said clear disclosure would increase or have no impact on their likelihood to buy a product.
The updated guidance reflects a faster-moving regulatory environment. IAB cited New York’s synthetic performer law, California’s SB 942, South Korea’s revised AI Basic Act and Article 50 of the European Union’s AI Act, which took effect August 2. The European Commission also published a voluntary Code of Practice tied to the EU law in June.
For advertisers in the U.S., IAB said either a standardized sparkle icon or a clear text label can satisfy the framework. In the European Union, the group noted that Article 50 requires disclosure of AI-generated content and deepfakes but does not require a specific icon.
IAB CEO David Cohen said the framework is meant to support trust as AI becomes more common across advertising.
“Putting the right transparency and disclosure standards in place benefits everybody: consumers, advertisers, agencies, publishers and platforms,” Cohen said in a statement.
For more information about IAB’s AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework, click or tap here.
