On Thursday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro enacted the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act, a statute that obliges any advertisement that has been substantially altered or created by artificial intelligence to carry a disclosure label. The label must appear in the same visual or auditory format as the underlying ad, covering still images, video clips, audio spots, and written copy.
Pennsylvania joins a small group of U.S. jurisdictions that have moved to mandate transparency for AI-generated marketing content. The law applies to ads intended for Pennsylvania audiences regardless of where the creative work originated, meaning that a commercial produced in another state could be required to display the label when broadcast within Pennsylvania’s media market. This extraterritorial reach could prompt broader adoption of similar disclosures elsewhere.
Critics note that the statute leaves several key concepts undefined, creating potential compliance uncertainty. The phrase “significantly modified” lacks an objective threshold, leaving interpretation to individual advertisers or regulators. Additionally, the bill carves out exceptions for content classified as parody, satire, commentary, criticism, or “evidently fictional,” terms that have no precise legal definition within the text.
The legislation further specifies that a disclosure is required only when synthetic content creates a false consumer perception about a product or service. Because the statute does not delineate what constitutes a “false” perception, enforcement agencies may need to develop interpretive guidelines, and advertisers could face divergent judgments about whether their AI-enhanced messaging misleads consumers.
The bill was introduced by State Senator Nick Pisciottano, whose office was contacted for comment but did not respond before publication. Without clarification from the bill’s sponsor, stakeholders are left to interpret the ambiguous language on their own, potentially leading to varied implementation strategies across different industries that rely on AI-generated promotional material.
Businesses operating in Pennsylvania will need to adjust creative workflows to embed disclosure labels directly into AI-produced assets, a step that may increase production costs and require new verification processes. The lack of clear standards could also spur litigation as competitors challenge the adequacy of disclosed labels, while federal regulators watch the state experiment for clues on broader national policy.