Nine AI-generated ads won awards. Do you know what’s true?

The advertising industry awards several major awards, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the CLIO Awards. There is now a new award to recognize the best AI-generated ads.

The Generated Awards were held in New York City on May 27th, and Generated Group presented nine awards to AI video creators and brands. Many of the nominated ads were “spec ads,” unofficial works by AI enthusiasts and creators. However, ads from Google and Gorilla Glue Company were also considered.

For example, “Pac-Man Reimagined,” which won the “Best Visual Effects” award, is not actually an advertisement for Bandai Namco Entertainment, which owns Pac-Man.

Still, the event shows how quickly ad agencies are adapting to new AI technologies. At Google I/O last year, the company dropped its AI video model Veo 3 like a bomb. Since then, we’ve had to question every viral video we’ve ever seen. Since then, text-to-video models have advanced rapidly. AI video creators often use multiple video models such as Seeddance 2.0, Kling 3.0, Luma Ray2, and tools to increase resolution to 4K.

Google has explicitly marketed Veo as a tool for quickly creating ads at scale, and multiple ad agencies now specialize in creating low-cost AI ads. Coca-Cola’s latest holiday campaign centers around a controversial AI video, and Jeep is currently airing several AI-generated commercials.

mashable light speed

Like I said before, I think artificial intelligence in advertising is an unstoppable train, whether we like it or not.

In an email, I asked Generated Group CEO Tanya Porquez whether there should be mandatory disclosure requirements for AI-generated ads. “I don’t think there should be mandatory disclosure unless there is a legal requirement,” she said.

“It’s going to be a crawling situation where there’s ‘AI-created’ disclosure to build public trust. There’s a transparency issue where people want to know they’re not being manipulated by AI tools. For example, New York passed a bill requiring AI-created person disclosure, which we welcome. I can understand why they would want that at this early stage.”

Generated Ads: Check out the winning ads

We’ve gathered all the winners in this piece to find out what advertising will look like in the near future. See for yourself and see if you can tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not.

Some videos are more obvious than others, featuring the glossy sheen that characterizes many AI videos. But as with any AI-generated image, its traces are becoming increasingly difficult to spot.

Of course, it’s important to note that all of these videos contain AI-generated content.