The Advertising Association has formed a new AI Taskforce with the aim to build an industry-wide coordinated approach to policy, ethical safeguards and guidelines.

The Taskforce brings together senior representatives across Advertising Association membership and will 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.

Yves Schwarzbart, Advertising Industry Relations Manager, EMEA, at Google and Alex Dalman, Managing Partner and Head of Social Innovation at VCCP will co-chair the Taskforce.

Set to meet for the first time this week, The Taskforce will aim to ensure the advertising and marketing industry are responsible producers, deployers and end-users of AI. As technology develops and AI becomes increasingly more present in the creative process and product, the Taskforce will also explore the productivity and creativity gains for the industry and broader economic benefits for the UK.

“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.” says Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association. “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 Taskforce will also aim to ensure the UK is the best place to develop and champion AI in advertising and marketing to reinforce its position as a world-leading hub. Through a heightened focus on policy, AI ethics and data ethics the Taskforce will aim to establish a standard of excellence.

"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.” adds Alex Dalman, Managing Partner and Head of Social & Innovation at VCCP London. “So, we’re very excited to be part of the AI Taskforce where we can help to guide the industry through its latest transformation and participate in important conversations about policy, ethics, and societal impact while keeping a focus on the incredible opportunities that AI presents."

The Taskforce will convene for a minimum twelve months, with plans to meet quarterly. As technology develops and enables greater tools for creativity, ensuring that strong policies are in place and ethics are taken into consideration will create a more robust strategy and allow more opportunities for all.