AI Taskforce created by Advertising Association

The Advertising Association (AA), which represents agencies, media owners, and tech companies, has formed a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) Taskforce in order to establish ethical safeguards, develop industry guidelines, and ensure transparency and legality in the use of AI in advertising.

The association has brought together representatives from across its membership to create a coordinated policy approach due to the rapid changes AI is bringing to the world.

The Taskforce will work with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) where necessary to ensure the use of AI in advertising is transparent, decent, honest, legal, and truthful.

Stephen Woodford, chief executive officer for the AA, says: “The establishment of our AI Taskforce comes at a critical time for AI and its use, not just in the UK but in advertising around the world.

“The Taskforce will focus on the ethical usage of AI in advertising as well as helping develop the UK’s role globally for AI’s influence on marketing and advertising innovation. This Taskforce draws from the strengths of our AA and Front Foot membership to include the best mix of senior technical, policy, and legal experts across the advertiser, agency, platform, and media community.”

The formation of the Taskforce demonstrates how many industries can be affected by AI in positive and negative ways. With print and signage being communication tools for advertising, AI and its laws may play a larger role in how communications are processed and created.

VCCP London, an advertising company that offers a range of services including retail experiences, out-of-home (OOH) advertising, and branding/design services has become a part of the latest Taskforce in order to help guide the changes happening in the industry.

Alex Dalman, managing partner and head of Social & Innovation at VCCP, comments: “We believe that AI can unlock tremendous potential in advertising and marketing, and that generative AI in particular will be an accelerator of human creativity and innovation, but we also believe that it must be used responsibly.”

Printed products which often use the likes of stock imagery could soon find themselves playing host to more AI-generated content, which will produce work from existing designs, potentially without the approval of original creators.

At the recent Print Growth Roadshow in London (organised by The Online Print Coach), Sam Armstrong from signage consultancy service, Make it Happen, reiterated her belief that those involved in signage sales are brand consultants, due to their role in creating signs that reflect the ethos of businesses, events, and individuals.

Brands and creatives will undoubtedly use AI to help certain processes and more and more monitoring of this tool will likely develop over the next few years.

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