Pennsylvania makes AI labels compulsory on ads: any image, video, audio or text ad made with AI

Pennsylvania now requires a label on any advertisement that has been "significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence", after Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act into law on Thursday 22 October, The Verge reported. It is one of the first US states to make AI disclosure compulsory in advertising.

What the AI ad law requires

• Every format is covered: still images, video, audio and text ads all need a disclosure.
• The label must match the ad's format: a spoken ad needs a spoken disclosure, a printed flyer a printed one.
• Big and small advertisers alike: the rule applies to national TV commercials and to a local restaurant's flyer.
• Where the ad was made does not matter: an ad made elsewhere but shown in Pennsylvania must carry the label, so viewers in other states may start seeing disclosures too.

The loopholes

The Verge points to several gaps:

1. "Significantly modified" is not defined, so a lightly retouched photo may or may not count.
2. There is a carve-out for parody, satire, commentary or criticism, and for anything "evidently fictional".
3. The wording suggests only AI content that "creates a false consumer perception" about a product or service must be labelled, which leaves open who decides what is false.

The bill was introduced by State Senator Nick Pisciottano.

Why it matters in Pakistan

Pakistan is moving in the same direction for elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan's draft AI rules would require deepfakes to be labelled and ban bot campaigns, with public feedback due by 20 November (our report on the ECP draft rules).

For Pakistani agencies and freelancers making ads for US clients, a Pennsylvania-style label may soon be part of the brief. If you earn from foreign clients, our freelancer tax calculator works out what you owe on that income.