Pennsylvania will require labels on AI-generated ads

Judgment

Pennsylvania advertisers—including small restaurants—must now choose whether to label every materially synthetic ad or rely on the law's subjective 'significantly modified' and 'evidently fictional' exceptions, trading creative clarity against enforcement risk.

Basis

Terrence O’Brien reports that Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act on Thursday. It requires any ad—still image, video, audio, or text—that “has been significantly modified or generated by artificial intelligence” to carry a label in the same format as the ad. That covers national TV commercials and small restaurants’ flyers, and applies regardless of where an ad was created, so out-of-state commercials airing in Pennsylvania may need disclosures. O’Brien notes loopholes: “significantly modified” is subjective; parody, satire, commentary, criticism, and “evidently fictional” content are carved out; and the wording suggests only synthetic content that “creates a false consumer perception” about a product or service needs disclosure. The office of State Senator Nick Pisciottano, who introduced the bill, did not immediately return a request for comment.