Who: The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 1 November 2023
Law stated as at: 19 January 2024
What happened:
The exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in the advertising industry – especially generative AI – has brought with it a host of legal, regulatory and ethical challenges.
In a step towards addressing these issues, the IPA and ISBA have published 12 principles designed to guide agencies and advertisers when using generative AI in connection with advertising. The principles aim to promote the ethical deployment of AI, while safeguarding the interests of consumers and workers. While the principles are comprehensive, they focus primarily on the creative process and therefore should not be taken as industry-wide.
The full list of principles is available here. Outlined below are the five prominent themes that underpin the principles (accompanied by illustrative examples):
- Responsible and ethical use. AI must not be used in a way that undermines public trust in advertising, for example through the use of undisclosed deepfakes.
- Transparency and disclosure. Advertisers and agencies should be transparent with each other about their use of AI, for example by disclosing when AI generated content has been used in materials.
- Environmental impact. Advertisers and agencies are encouraged to consider the environmental impact of using generative AI.
- Human involvement and accountability. AI should be viewed as an additive, rather than a way to replace people. Additionally, advertisers and agencies are encouraged to use AI sensibly; for example, employees must fact-check AI generated output.
- Continuous monitoring and evaluation. Advertisers and agencies should continuously monitor and evaluate their use of AI to ensure it can evolve as a tool.
Why this matters:
Although many advertisers are still getting to grips with the potential for generative AI technology, there is no question that generative AI will continue to be essential for the industry.
The IPA and ISBA’s principles are a helpful initial resource for agencies and advertisers to identify a few key issues in this evolving landscape. A comprehensive understanding of the risks and challenges will enable advertisers to harness the capabilities of AI in a safe and responsible manner.
However, the deployment of generative AI technology presents nuanced and complex challenges – especially when the outputs of generative AI technology (such as generated imagery) are incorporated in public campaigns.
Since the specific legal risks and challenges are very fact-dependent, it is essential for advertisers to implement appropriate measures, specific to their organisation. The IPA and ISBA’s principles should therefore be viewed as helpful initial guidance for advertisers.
