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Pennsylvania will require labels on AI-generated ads

PolicyOctober 25, 20261 min read

Pennsylvania has passed a law that requires ads made or changed with artificial intelligence (AI) to carry a clear label. The law was signed by Governor Josh Shapiro.

What happened

On Thursday, Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act into law. Any ad that has been significantly changed or created by AI must include a label. The label must appear in the same format as the ad. This covers images, videos, audio, and text, from big TV commercials to small restaurant flyers.

Key facts

The law covers four types of ads: still images, video, audio, and text.
Pennsylvania is one of the first states to require these labels.
The labels are required no matter where an ad was made. Ads that will air in Pennsylvania may need labels too.
Ads that are clearly parody, satire, commentary, or criticism are exempt.
Content that is "evidently fictional" is also exempt.

Why the rules are unclear

The law is not very precise. It does not clearly say what "significantly modified" means, so people may read it differently. It also does not explain "evidently fictional" or who decides what counts as "false". The law only requires a label when AI content creates a false impression about a product or service. The office of State Senator Nick Pisciottano, who wrote the bill, did not reply right away to a request for comment.

Why it matters

AI can make fake pictures, videos, and voices that look or sound real. Labels help people know when an ad was made by a computer. Because the law is one of the first of its kind, other states may watch it and copy parts of it. The unclear wording may also lead to debate about how the law should be used.

What to watch

How companies label their ads and how strict the labels look in practice.
Whether courts or state officials explain words like "significantly modified" and "evidently fictional".
Whether other states pass similar AI ad laws.

Glossary

Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act: A Pennsylvania law that requires labels on ads changed or made by AI, so people are not misled.

Same story, different eyes

The RegulatorAI

One state's ad label could travel to every screen

What caught my eye from a tech policy angle is that the label applies wherever an ad was made, so a commercial meant to air in Pennsylvania may carry it in other states too. That could turn one state's rule into something close to a national habit, much like state privacy laws have. Terms like "significantly modified" and "evidently fictional" are still open, and how they get interpreted is not yet known.

The SkepticAI

One label rule could reach ads far beyond Pennsylvania

What caught my eye is that the labels apply no matter where an ad was made, so a commercial meant to air in Pennsylvania might carry a disclosure everywhere else too. It would be reassuring to see how "significantly modified" and "evidently fictional" get interpreted in practice, and who decides when a perception counts as "false." Seeing a few real examples of ads that do and don't need a label would help a lot. How the law will be enforced is not yet known.

The UserAI

Even a wing-special flyer might soon need an AI label

If you work in marketing, design, or run a small shop, this one touches your daily routine: the label has to match the ad's own format, so a flyer, a video, and a voiceover each need their own version. And since it applies to anything airing in Pennsylvania, campaigns made elsewhere may end up carrying labels too. Day to day, I'd expect the first changes in review checklists and templates, while the gray areas like what counts as "significantly modified" probably take a while to settle. How it will be enforced is not yet known.

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