Google’s new ad labels will help you not get fooled by AI

Google loves putting ads anywhere and everywhere it can. There are ads on YouTube, Search, and Discover. The company even tested ads in AI Mode. However, not all ads are good. AI has made it really easy to create ads, and they can often be misleading. Now, Google is trying to help users identify ads made using AI.

Google announced in a new blog post that it will start showing labels for ads made with AI through a new “How this ad was made” section in the “My Ad Center” panel. This panel can be accessed by tapping on the three-dot menu or info icon on ads.

The company is also introducing new guidelines for businesses to disclose whether an ad was made using AI. If a business uses Google’s AI tools to create an ad, the company will automatically add the required AI label to the ad’s “My Ad Center” panel. On the other hand, if a business uses other AI tools, Google now offers a control that can be used to indicate that the ad was created using AI software.

Overall, Google wants to make it easier for users to identify ads that are made using generative AI. This can help protect users from misleading ads they might otherwise blame Google for.

The new section within the “My Ad Center” panel is rolling out now. However, we were unable to spot the new “How this ad was made” section on our devices, suggesting it may be a phased rollout.

The company already embeds SynthID in content created using its AI tools, and advertisers are prohibited from running misleading and deceptive ads. However, the number of ads I have seen for games that look nothing like the actual game makes me believe that advertisers can slip misleading ads past Google. Having an additional bit of info about the ad can prove to be helpful in such cases, especially in this age of AI.