Pennsylvania requires labels on AI-generated ads

As The Verge reports, Pennsylvania has signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act into law. It asks advertisers to disclose when an ad was generated by AI.

Which ads does the law cover?

Any ad that has been "significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence" is in scope, whether it is a still image, video, audio or text. The label has to appear in the same format as the ad itself, so an audio ad needs an audio disclosure. The reach runs from television commercials by large companies to a local restaurant's flyer.

Where an ad was created does not matter. An ad expected to run in Pennsylvania may need a label even if it was produced in another state or another country.

What loopholes does the law leave?

The Verge points to several vague spots. What counts as "significantly modified" is subjective. Parody, satire, commentary, criticism and anything "evidently fictional" are carved out, but the last term is undefined. The wording also suggests that only synthetic content creating a false consumer perception of a product or service needs a disclosure, and it is unclear what counts as "false" or who decides.

What should brands advertising to US audiences do?

For brands and agencies that advertise to US audiences or prepare campaigns that could run in Pennsylvania, the first step is to record which creative assets involve AI. Building a cautious internal process until the limits become clearer is cheaper than pulling ads later.

• Record, for every asset (image, video, audio, text), whether AI was used and how, in your creative production log.
• Flag work that could count as significantly modified, such as AI-generated people, product visuals or voices, and prepare the label wording in advance.
• Plan the label in the ad's own format: on-screen text for video, a spoken notice for audio, a disclosure line for text ads.
• If Pennsylvania is in the target area, ask legal counsel beforehand whether the "evidently fictional" exception can be relied on.

If campaigns run through a performance marketing team, carrying the creative source record into ad-account naming and the measurement sheet also makes it easier to show later which version of an ad ran with a label.