AI: Advertisers are charged to reveal usage in campaigns – 07/25/2023 – Market

Advertising agencies will be urged to join an initiative to reveal when artificial intelligence is used in social media campaigns. The measure is being promoted in response to concerns about the use of online characters that are virtual but appear real.

Advertising agency Ogilvy, which is backed by the WPP Group and is one of the largest agencies used by influencers on social media, has unveiled plans for an AI accountability code for advertisers and social platforms to clearly disclose and publicly declare influencer campaigns that are generated by AI. The agency also committed to using a new “watermark” in its ads.

The campaign has the backing of leading industry associations and follows efforts to encourage influencers to disclose when they are using technology to alter their appearance.

Rob Newman, director of public affairs for the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, said: “The public deserves transparency. Transparency as to when something is an advertisement, and confidence that the voice advertising is a real person.”

While AI influencers are still a new concept, there are more and more of them who already amass a large following on social media, sometimes in the millions. Thanks to rapid advances in AI, some of them are even more realistic in their appearance and in the way they interact with their followers. AI influencers can be designed by people who later strike deals with brands, or they can be created and managed by brands and agencies as part of a marketing strategy.

Ogilvy’s campaign is one of a series of AI-related initiatives that will launch at Cannes next week, when tens of thousands of advertising and marketing executives will gather for an annual global conference.

The use of AI will be a central theme discussed across stages, at parties and in bars, given the threat its use poses to many jobs in the industry, from automating the purchase of ad space to doing creative work.

The conference will also be attended by several companies that are developing AI services, including Google and OpenAI.

Rahul Titus, global director of influence at Ogilvy, said that three-quarters of social media content is produced by individual “creators”, but that a growing portion of this is AI-generated characters that can be presented as being real.

Titus said the AI ​​watermark will also benefit social media influencers who are real people and who, he says, are driven by authenticity. Increasingly, he said, “people want to see people, not brands.”

Ogilvy said it doesn’t work with influencers who change their image using body-distorting filters.

The agency was behind Lu, one of the most popular virtual influencers and the face of Magalu, Brazil’s largest retailer. Lu has appeared on live TV shows and music videos.

Ultimately, Ogilvy wants marketers to share all AI-generated content, similar to the “paid partnership” tag used across the industry today to show where influencers have been paid to promote a brand.

Titus said, “The AI ​​market is projected to grow 26% through 2025, largely due to increased AI use in influence.”

Last year, the Advertising Standards Board of India became the first national advertising watchdog to set clear transparency rules on AI-generated influencer content.

Scott Guthrie, managing director of Influencer Marketing Trade Body, said: “Creators are already starting to breed online as AI clones. These GPT-enabled, self-animating synthetic creators can communicate in real-time and at scale. That’s tremendously exciting and has nearly limitless positive applications. But it also opens the door to malicious actors.”

_{Translated by Clara Allain}