Google to Disclose AI-Generated Ads via My Ad Center Panel

AI tools let businesses create ads and place products in synthetic settings cheaply, but consumers can’t tell if a photo is real. Until now, Google only required election ads to disclose AI use. The gap leaves everyday ads unlabeled, creating a trust problem as generative ads become common. Google‘s new feature tries to balance enabling AI ad tools with giving users a way to know what’s real.

Google is introducing a “how this ad was made” option inside its My Ad Center panel, accessible from the three-dot menu on Search, YouTube, and Discover globally. For ads created with Google‘s own generative AI advertising tools, the disclosure is automatically enabled. For ads made elsewhere, advertisers must use a new control to self-report AI involvement, and Google will not verify their claims. In some markets, local law may also trigger the label.

The approach relies on self-disclosure for most AI-generated ads, without verification from Google. That’s a policy decision, not a technical one, and it leaves room for non-compliance. Builders should watch how this plays out: voluntary labeling may push toward regulation, and the feature sets a baseline expectation that AI-generated content in advertising should be transparent.