AI Transparency and AI-Generated Creatives
Overview
Regulators in several markets now require extra transparency when ads use content that is generated or materially modified with artificial intelligence (AI). This is especially relevant when your Commerce Max campaigns include:
AI-generated or heavily AI-edited product visuals, lifestyle images, or backgrounds
AI-generated or materially edited video
AI-synthesized or cloned voices
Synthetic or AI-generated people who could be mistaken for real individuals
These requirements can apply to both onsite and offsite creatives, depending on the jurisdiction, the content, and how the asset was generated, modified, and delivered.
In some jurisdictions, there are also specific consent and disclosure requirements when you use an AI-generated or digitally replicated likeness, voice, or performance of a person.
Campaigns in Commerce Max involve more parties than a standard advertising workflow. Brands, retailers, and Criteo each hold part of the picture, and in many setups the retailer performs the final rendering of the ad. This article explains how responsibilities are shared when AI is involved in Criteo Commerce Max workflows.
This information is for general guidance only and is not legal advice. Please consult your own legal counsel about how these rules apply to your business, markets, and use cases.
Which Rules Apply, and Where
The following two regulations are most relevant to Commerce Max campaigns today. Neither one applies outside its own jurisdiction.
Regulation | Where it applies | What it requires | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
EU AI Act, Article 50 | The EU only | Advertising content generated or materially modified with AI must be clearly disclosed. Common disclosures are AI-generated and AI-modified. | August 2, 2026 |
New York Synthetic Performer Law | New York State only. It is not a US federal law. | A clear and conspicuous disclosure where an ad reaching New York consumers contains a synthetic performer, meaning an AI- or software-generated figure, voice, or likeness intended to appear as a human performer who is not an identifiable real person. A suggested disclosure is This ad contains a synthetic performer. | June 9, 2026 |
A campaign running in both markets may need to satisfy both sets of requirements independently. Other markets may introduce their own rules, and platform or retailer policies may go further than the legal minimum.
Who Is Responsible for What?
A simple way to think about roles is:
Tool and model providers build AI systems and ensure their outputs can carry technical signals, such as provenance metadata, so that AI-generated or AI-modified content can be detected.
You, the advertiser or agency, as the deployer, decide when and how to use AI content in your campaigns. You are responsible for:
Applying any required visible disclosures or labels for end users under applicable laws and platform policies.
Obtaining any necessary rights and consents.
Criteo, as the advertising platform and service provider, supports transparency by:
Preserving and surfacing AI-related labels where Criteo serves ads.
Labeling creatives that Criteo itself generates or materially modifies with AI on the surfaces Criteo controls, in line with applicable requirements.
Retailers, where they render the ad, may perform the final rendering rather than Criteo. Where that is the case, disclosure on those surfaces needs to be coordinated with the retailer directly.
Criteo does not replace your legal obligations as the deployer.
What Is Required from You?
When you use AI in creatives or product content that runs with Commerce Max, we recommend that you:
Identify where AI is used. Keep track of assets you supply that were generated or materially modified using AI, including:
Synthetic or AI-generated people
AI-generated or heavily AI-edited product visuals and backgrounds
AI-modified video
AI-synthesized or cloned voices
AI-generated lifestyle or hero imagery in product catalog feeds
Secure rights and consent. Ensure you have appropriate rights and consent for any AI-generated likenesses, voices, or performances when a real person's identity or image is involved.
Apply required disclosures. Where your legal team considers it necessary, add clear AI-related disclosures before creatives are used in campaigns. Depending on the market and use case, this might include:
Labels such as AI-generated or AI-modified
Disclosures such as This ad contains a synthetic performer
Tell us when AI is involved. Criteo is not able to detect AI use in an asset you supply. Where a creative or product image is AI-generated or AI-modified, indicate this when you submit it so that it can be handled correctly.
Label AI content in your product feeds. Where product imagery in your catalog is AI-generated or AI-modified, apply the appropriate labels or provenance metadata in your own catalog systems before the feed reaches Criteo.
Align with your legal counsel. Confirm with your own legal counsel how AI transparency and consent rules apply to:
Your business and brands
Your markets
Your specific creative and catalog workflows
How Criteo Handles Creatives in Commerce Max
Criteo has implemented measures to support AI transparency across Commerce Max workflows.
Advertiser-Supplied Creatives and Retailer Catalog Content
Criteo does not create the product catalog images or the standalone creatives that brands and retailers supply in these flows. We ingest the assets you or your partners provide.
When your assets carry AI-related disclosures, these disclosures are not removed or altered, including during resizing, reformatting, or adaptation.
Creatives That Criteo Generates or Materially Edits Using AI
When Criteo uses its own tools and services to generate or materially modify creatives on your behalf, for example AI-assisted images, video, or copy produced by our Creative Services team, we apply and preserve the relevant AI labels on the surfaces we control, in line with applicable requirements. This applies to onsite and offsite creatives alike.
Where you ask our teams to upload or adapt a creative you have generated or modified with AI, tell us at the point of submission. We will apply the appropriate disclosure if one is not already present.
We will not knowingly serve creatives that appear to violate AI-related transparency or consent requirements, and may pause delivery of non-compliant assets.
Ongoing Improvements
We are evolving our services so that we can apply AI marking on your creatives on your behalf. There will be two ways to indicate AI-generated or AI-modified content:
Self-declaration in Criteo interfaces and APIs. Declare that a creative is AI-generated or AI-modified when uploading or managing assets. Criteo will then apply and propagate the corresponding AI label.
Standardized AI-content signals. Send AI-content signals such as C2PA, SynthID, or the appropriate IAB fields. Criteo will interpret these signals and automatically apply the appropriate AI label.
These capabilities are designed to reduce manual effort on your side, improve consistency of AI labeling across Retail Media campaigns and surfaces, and provide a clear, auditable framework for handling AI-generated or AI-modified content. We will share details and expected impact ahead of rollout.
Related Resources
AI Transparency FAQs
Who is responsible for the disclosure — the brand, the retailer, or Criteo?
Responsibility depends on the whoever created or supplied the asset. Clients remain responsible for the content and declarations they provide. Criteo is responsible for labelling what we produce or adapt, for preserving labels that arrive with an asset, and for never suppressing one.
What does Criteo do today?
Criteo has implemented measures to support AI transparency. For Criteo-built creatives, we have a process to ensure appropriate AI disclosures are included where relevant. Where Criteo uses AI in its own tools to create or edit creatives, we apply and preserve the relevant AI labels. Where clients apply AI disclosures to the creatives they supply, we preserve and respect those markings across our systems and workflows.
Does Criteo detect AI-generated content automatically?
Criteo applies AI labels to the creatives we build, and preserves the labels clients apply to creatives they supply. Currently, we cannot detect AI use in an asset a client sends us, and do not take over legal responsibility from clients to mark AI-generated or AI-modified creatives. We are working with product teams on developing a future detection solution through metadata.
What about product images in my catalog feed?
Criteo does not generate or modify product images. We serve the imagery that arrives in the feed and preserve any AI provenance signals or labels present. Responsibility for accurately labeling AI-generated or AI-modified product images sits with the party supplying the feed, the retailer, or the brand where it is the merchant of record.
Do the same rules apply everywhere?
No. The EU AI Act applies in the EU. The New York Synthetic Performer Law applies in New York State only and is not a US federal law. A campaign running in both markets may need to satisfy both sets of requirements. Other markets may have their own rules, so confirm your position with your legal counsel.
Does the EU AI Act apply to the UK?
No, the EU AI Act does not apply within the UK.
My retailer's policy is stricter than the law. Which one applies?
The stricter requirement governs the campaign. Retailer and platform policies can go further than the legal minimum and vary by retailer and by market. A retailer requirement does not stop applying because a given law does not demand it.
My agency produces our own creatives. Does that change my obligations?
No. The legal duty towards Criteo stays with the advertiser regardless of who produces the asset. We encourage you to share these requirements with whoever creates your creatives.
What happens if a disclosure will not fit within a format's character or space limits?
Raise this with your Criteo representative before the campaign goes live rather than omitting the disclosure. Some formats have practical constraints, and we will look at the specific case with you.
Where can I get help with a specific case?
Contact your Criteo representative. For questions about how these requirements apply to your own business, markets, and workflows, please consult your own legal counsel.