Google recently launched a new feature designed to provide advertisers with a more convenient way to reveal whether AI-generated content is included in its political ads. This initiative aims to increase advertising transparency and help the public better identify and understand the technological components in advertising.
According to Search Engine Land, Google said that when advertisers submit election ads, if the ad contains "synthetic or digitally modified content", the system will automatically generate relevant disclosure information. This feature is a further optimization of last year's policy, which Google asked political advertisers to manually insert "clearly visible" disclosure information in ads containing AI content.
Today, Google has simplified this process, and advertisers simply select the Modify or Synthesize content checkbox in their campaign settings and the system will automatically include disclosure information in the ad. This disclosure will appear on multiple platforms, including information flow on mobile devices, YouTube Shorts, and inline ads displayed on mobile phones, computers, TVs and the web.
For other advertising formats, advertisers still need to provide disclosure information on their own. The launch of this new feature comes as the U.S. presidential election approaches, and public and regulators are intensifying concerns about its potential impact as AI technology is being used in political advertising.
In May, the U.S. Senate Rules Committee advanced a bill that required political advertisers to disclose whether ads contain AI-generated content. Meanwhile, the FCC has also made similar policy recommendations, furthering the requirement for transparency in AI use in political advertising.
Google's move not only simplifies advertisers' compliance processes, but also provides the public with more information transparency, helping them make smarter judgments when facing political advertising. As AI technology continues to expand in the field of advertising, similar transparent measures may become industry standards to ensure the rationality and impartiality of technology applications.