Microsoft Advertising sets rules for AI-generated ads
Microsoft Advertising is putting advertisers on notice: If AI helped create or materially alter your ad, consumers may need to know about it.
AI-generated creative is becoming routine in advertising, but Microsoft is making clear that using AI doesn’t give marketers a pass on transparency, consent or deceptive content.
Driving the news. Microsoft Advertising has published dedicated guidance covering AI-generated, AI-manipulated and other synthetic content used in ads.
Advertisers are responsible for complying with applicable laws wherever their campaigns run, including requirements around disclosures, permissions and the use of a person’s likeness or voice.
The details. Microsoft says advertisers should preserve watermarks, metadata and other provenance information identifying how AI-generated content was created.
When disclosure is required, advertisers are responsible for making it clear and placing it close to the relevant content. Microsoft recommends embedding AI disclosures directly into image and video assets.
Its existing ad disclaimer feature can also be used with supported formats.
Yes, but. Slapping an “AI-generated” label on deceptive creative won’t make it acceptable.
Microsoft says ads can still be rejected, restricted or removed if they contain prohibited deepfakes, impersonate people or organizations, use someone’s likeness or voice without required authorization, omit required disclosures, or interfere with machine-readable provenance information.
How Microsoft is handling its own AI. Images, audio and video produced using Microsoft AI tools can contain machine-readable provenance data, metadata and imperceptible watermarks indicating AI involvement.
Those signals aren’t necessarily visible to consumers, meaning advertisers may still need to add their own visible or audible disclosures.
What advertisers should do. Review AI-assisted creative before submitting it and make sure the people, products, places, claims and events depicted are accurate.
Advertisers should also avoid stripping metadata or watermarks from AI assets and check disclosure requirements in every market where a campaign will appear.
The bottom line. Microsoft isn’t banning AI advertising. It’s drawing a clearer line between using AI to make an ad and using AI to mislead the person seeing it.
Dig deeper. AI-generated and synthetic content in advertising
