AI Disclosure in Influencer Marketing: Best Practices

AI is shaking up the influencer marketing world. While industry leaders are brimming with plans to use AI in different facets, from generating text to creating images, it’s important to be publicly transparent about its use. If your brand is using AI tools, or plans to in the future, it’s important to add an AI disclosure policy to your overall influencer marketing strategy. 

Best practices for AI disclosure

The FTC has offered guidance on disclosing how companies use AI. Most directions focus on being transparent with your audience. Here’s what you should know:

Use “double disclosures” when sharing AI-generated content on social

If AI-generated content is shared publicly via an influencer marketing campaign, you need to disclose that it’s sponsored content and AI-generated. 

Let’s say you work with influencers using AI, and the creator makes a cartoon-like picture of himself using your product and shares it on Instagram. The message should contain “sponsored content,” “paid partnership,” or “ad” to disclose the relationship between the brand and the influencer. 

It should also indicate that the content wasn’t generated by a person but by using artificial intelligence. In a prominent place, label the content as “AI-generated” or add hashtags like #AIart, #SponsoredAIart, #AIgenerated, or #generativeart. 

IZEA recently launched our FormAI tools on our homepage, which anyone can use. Besides generating blog posts, email newsletters and social media copy, users can watermark an image and add text tags indicating it’s an AI-generated asset.

Be transparent about AI tools

AI has many different applications, some of which aren’t as visible as AI-generated art. For example, Netflix and Spotify use AI-driven algorithms to provide content recommendations based on the shows you’ve watched or songs you’ve listened to. 

As a user, you see the recommendations, not how they were identified. 

Even with this kind of behind-the-scenes application, it’s best practice to disclose how AI is used. Netflix, for example, explains its use of AI on its website with both text and video. 

Need another example? IZEA Flex offers AI Briefs and AI Brainstorms. AI Briefs can generate a brief, or a campaign summary, for an influencer. AI Brainstorms can take that brief and generate images influencers can draw from.  

In both cases, brands can use the tools without an influencer knowing, but you should disclose how the materials were created. When you chat with influencers, let them know that you’re providing an AI-generated brief and several AI-generated images that they can use to spark their creativity.

Be upfront about working with AI influencers

As a brand, you can work with AI influencers, which are social media personalities created by artificial intelligence. Miquela Sousa is one of the most popular AI influencers. While she looks like a 19-year-old girl, she’s a computer-generated image. 

Miquela has worked with brands like Prada, Calvin Klein and Mini Cooper. Take a look at this AI influencer marketing ad: 

As with any influencer marketing ad, it’s clearly labeled “paid partnership” on the top, and #Ad is listed in the hashtags. Still, you should also consider starting a conversation with your audience around this type of campaign. 

Remind your audience that an AI influencer isn’t a real person, and talk about your brand’s decision to partner with an AI influencer and the value it brings to them. 

As the applications for AI grow, marketers will face disclosure concerns. Best practices focus on being transparent with your audiences. If your team uses AI, make sure disclosure is a priority. Talk through how you’ll inform customers of its use.