In the midst of the rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence, Adweek’s weekly summary provides an overview of the most recent updates, regulatory activities, and business developments in the world of gen AI that marketers need to know.

This week’s news update includes: 

On the policy side

• Ahead of 2024’s U.S. presidential elections, Meta has barred political advertisers from using its generative AI ad products, per Reuters. Meanwhile, the company mandated global political advertisers to disclose the use of third-party AI tools in political or ads, The New York Times reported.
  • However, it’s increasingly difficult to correctly detect if an image is generated using AI, according to Patrick Bangert, svp of data, analytics and AI consultancy company Searce. “Simply taking down the ads is not feasible at scale and will be inadequate to prevent damage,” he said.

On the tech side

• Google brings gen AI to Performance Max with new tools becoming available to U.S. advertisers by the end of the year. Google promises the AI tool will not create two identical images, skirting the possible outcomes of two competing brands seeing similar images. The company will deploy SynthID watermarks on all creative assets and incorporate open standard metadata for labeling AI-generated images.
• Paid subscribers to YouTube’s premium package will get its gen AI updates in the next few weeks. The AI tools will answer questions on the platform’s content and make recommendations, summarizing topics discussed in the video’s comment section, available to users via opt-in.
• OpenAI ramps up privacy efforts, the company announced during its first developer conference held in San Francisco on Monday, per CNN. The company introduced Copyright Shield, a protective measure to support OpenAI customers and cover expenses associated with potential copyright infringement issues. Developers now have the ability to tailor ChatGPT, allowing it to integrate with databases, assist in emails, or streamline e-commerce orders, akin to plugins.
• Instagram finally catches up in the gen AI image race. The platform will introduce two gen AI filters that let people perform advanced edits by easing the separation of image elements. Ahmad Al-Dahle, vp of generative AI at Meta, shared this development with Axios at its inaugural AI+ conference in San Francisco.