Do brands need to be transparent with consumers when using AI content?

In the era of AI disruption, businesses are learning how to employ generative AI to improve efficiencies and to stand out from the crowd in digital marketing. Interestingly, brands across the APJ region now lead other geographies in generative AI deployment and are set to make major near-term organisational changes to scale up adoption, according to Adobe’s Digital Trends 2024 Asia Pacific and Japan report.

According to executives among APJ brands, almost two in three (65%) have implemented full or initial AI solutions and pilots, making them further along than peers in the US (61%) and Europe (55%). Within the APJ region, deployment is the highest in Japan (82%), followed by India and Asia (both 72%).

Don't miss: Study: Brands in APAC lead in global gen AI rollout

The report also said that among APJ brands, generative AI integration is the digital initiative most likely to support growth in 2024. As a result, most brands are developing guidelines for responsible use of AI (73%) and aligning a comprehensive AI roadmap with broader business goals (71%) 

Over two-thirds of APJ brands also believe that generative AI will transform data analytics and management more than any other part of the organisation. They also recognise that data capabilities and governance are a cornerstone capability, with most planning to increase investment in customer data management in 2024. Within APJ, this is the highest in India (75%). 

Importance of consumer trust 

The rapid increase in digital content creation, sharing and publishing in the age of generative AI, has raised important questions for businesses and consumers relating to issues of trust, according to Simon Dale, vice president, Asia, Adobe.

“Can people tell when they encounter AI-generated content and, more importantly, misinformation? How do organisations and content creators ensure they are innovating responsibly when harnessing the benefits of AI?” he said. 

These questions still remain as the world has witnessed the potential for AI to spread misinformation and this can significantly impact a brand's reputation, which is closely tied to consumer trust, Dale added. 

In fact, Adobe’s report found that trust remains the top priority for 86% of consumers in the region when it comes to how brands deliver digital customer experience.  

Meanwhile, 81% of consumers are comfortable with brands using AI generated images to make marketing messages more engaging. 80% are on board with brands using AI to make better suggestions for products and services they might be interested in. 

With more brands using gen AI in content creation, consumers will begin to appreciate the content because they will know that the AI is just the tool; it is the wielder of the tool that will be the one to be trusted and not the tool itself, said Sagar Paranjpe, senior consultant of marketing and customer experience, Prasarana Malaysia.

Maintaining transparency  

Given gen AI tools are becoming more ubiquitous and widely employed by marketers, particularly in content creation, brands should be transparent to consumers and declare that the content is AI-generated, said Paranjpe.  

“Trust is extremely important, and if consumers find out after the fact, gaining back that trust will be a very difficult, shameful, and expensive task. And in this day and age of information we live in, the consumer is sooner or later going to find out, and the later they find out the worse it will get,” he added. 

True enough, the era of AI-generated content demands a new level of openness and honesty, and consumers will expect brands to be upfront about their practices, said Adobe’s Dale.  

That's why Adobe started the Content Authenticity Initiative and co-founded the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity to advance the work of open specification development toward broad adoption of provenance standards. It also recently signed an MOU with the Centre of Advanced Technologies for Online Safety (CATOS) to explore the implementation of content provenance technologies in Singapore.

Additionally, transparency about AI-generated content is not just a matter of meeting consumer expectations but also a strategic imperative for building trust, ensuring ethical practices, and maintaining high standards of quality and authenticity, he added. 

However, sometimes, it depends on the type of content being produced, said Don Anderson, CEO, Kaddadle Consultancy. 

“For example, a run-of-the-mill, text-based social media post on Facebook probably doesn’t need highlighting if it is produced by AI, whereas a research report may require this given intellectual property considerations and the sourcing of and substantiation of the information cited,” he added. 

For consumer-directed messaging, and the increased ease of access to information and creative ideation that AI tools provide, it is necessary for brands to ensure they are using proprietary data and insights to maintain consumer trust, Anderson added. 

“This is particularly important for finance and insurance brands, where qualified, trust-worthy information in marketing communications is paramount to the consumer experience and purchasing decisions.” 

He also took Dove as an example as the brand has effectively addressed consumer concerns of deep fakes and AI-generated images in its #KeepBeautyReal campaign, by reinforcing how it represents and celebrates beauty around the world, while using owned research to reinforce its positioning in a global study. 

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