Pennsylvania Requires Labels on AI-Generated Ads

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on Thursday signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act, a state law that requires disclosure labels on advertisements that are significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence, according to The Verge.

What does the law require advertisers to do?

The statute covers any ad format — still image, video, audio, or text — that "has been significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence," The Verge reported. Advertisers that use AI in that way must attach a disclosure label, and the label has to appear in the same format as the ad itself. That means a label on a TV spot must be visual and audible in a way viewers can register during the commercial, while a label on a printed flyer has to appear on the page.

The law does not set a single approved phrase or icon for the disclosure, based on the available reporting, and does not specify a minimum size or duration for the label on video or audio content.

Which advertisers and ads does it cover?

The act applies across the scale of Pennsylvania's commercial advertising, from national television commercials run by large corporations to small-business print advertising, according to The Verge, which cited as an example "restaurants' ugly, crowded flyers about their wing specials." There is no carve-out in the reporting for ad spend, company size, or local versus national distribution.

The law's reach is not limited to ads produced inside Pennsylvania. Per The Verge's account, the disclosure requirement applies based on where an ad is expected to air, not where it was made. A commercial produced in another state could be required to carry the Pennsylvania-mandated label if it is also set to run in Pennsylvania markets — meaning viewers outside the state could see the disclosure as a side effect of the law's territorial reach.

What exemptions and carve-outs exist?

The act exempts content labeled "parody, satire, commentary or criticism," as well as material that is "evidently fictional," The Verge reported. Neither term is defined with precision in the law as described, and The Verge flagged that what counts as "evidently fictional" is unclear on its face.

The law's core trigger — ads that "significantly modified" content using AI — is also open to interpretation, according to The Verge, which noted the term is subjective. Compounding that, the disclosure duty appears to attach only when synthetic content creates a "false consumer perception" about a product, per the law's language cited in the report. That framing could limit enforcement to cases where regulators or plaintiffs can show the AI element misled a consumer about the product itself, rather than any use of AI in an ad's production.

How does Pennsylvania's law compare to other states?

Pennsylvania is among the first states to impose a disclosure mandate specifically on AI-generated or AI-modified advertising, The Verge reported. The outlet did not name other states with comparable statutes already in force, leaving Pennsylvania's law as an early marker for how states might approach AI-in-advertising rules as more legislatures take up the issue.

What should advertisers and consumers watch for next?

• Whether Pennsylvania regulators issue guidance clarifying what qualifies as "significantly modified" content or "evidently fictional" material, since neither term is defined precisely in the law as reported.
• Whether national advertisers add Pennsylvania-style AI labels to campaigns that run in multiple states, given the law applies based on where an ad airs rather than where it originates.
• Whether other state legislatures introduce similar AI-advertising disclosure bills, following Pennsylvania's move to be an early adopter of the requirement.
• Whether any enforcement actions or lawsuits test the law's "false consumer perception" standard, which appears to limit liability to cases where AI content misleads buyers about a specific product.

The Verge's full account of the bill's text and Shapiro's signing is available at the originating report.

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