Advertisements that were created or edited using artificial intelligence are increasingly appearing across Google properties — including Google Search, the Discover tab and YouTube. As AI tools improve, it has become harder to tell apart traditional ads from those generated or modified by AI, and knowing an ad’s origin can be important for assessing its credibility.
To address this, Google introduced a label that identifies when an ad was produced with the help of AI. The label is accessible by clicking the ad’s three-dot menu or the information (i) button, where it will state that the content was partly or wholly created using AI.
According to Google, the company will automatically add the AI label to any ad created with its own AI technologies. For ads produced with other tools or external AI solutions, it is the advertiser’s responsibility to add the label manually.
In some — unspecified — regions Google will display the AI indicator directly on the ad itself without requiring users to open menus or click an info button. The stated goal of the change is to make the origin of ads clearer and to improve transparency for users.
Why this matters
The label helps users make more informed judgments about advertisements, for example about how much they trust the claims made or the authenticity of visual elements. The measure is only a partial solution, however: the label does not always appear automatically and its visibility may vary by region.
This update is part of broader efforts to increase transparency around AI-influenced content in digital advertising.
