Annual Review 2023: Shaping the Responsible Use of AI in Advertising

Konrad Shek, Director of Policy Research

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to develop rapidly and there has been an explosion of interest in Large Language Models (LLMs), and Generative AI more generally, ever since ChatGPT was launched at the end of 2022.

This prompted us to think more strategically about how, as a trade association, we could best contribute to the conversation, add value to our members, but also leverage the breadth and depth of expertise across the membership. This culminated into the launch of our AI Taskforce in September which brought together senior representatives with a mix of technical, policy and legal expertise from across Advertising Association and Front Foot membership, co-chaired by representatives from Google and advertising agency VCCP.

The Taskforce has agreed to build a coordinated policy approach, in recognition of the rapid need to establish ethical safeguards, develop industry guidelines and work with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) where appropriate to ensure the use of AI in advertising campaigns is transparent and legal, decent, honest, and truthful.

The first big challenge is how to position the UK as the global leader and champion for AI in advertising and marketing, especially when there are other countries who are vying to do the same. This is where we think the Taskforce has a role in recommending policy that facilitates the development of AI in advertising and marketing, helping Government develop the right narratives and curating a set of best use cases to show how AI has been deployed effectively.

The second big challenge concerns advertising practitioners themselves trying to work out what AI is acceptable for and what it is not. Again, the Taskforce has a role here to help define those industry standards so that practitioners can use AI with increased confidence and clarity from both a legal and ethical standpoint.

Have some thoughts on AI? Email aitaskforce@adassoc.org.uk to contribute to the AI Taskforce.

You can download a full copy of our 2023 Annual Review here.