The UK’s advertising regulator is exploring how AI can be used to detect problems with commercials that have slipped through its traditional monitoring system with a trial directed at alcohol adverts.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) conducted a trial using AI at scale to determine if alcohol ads were following its rules.
The ASA first started experimenting with AI in 2023, however, the trial is its first attempt to use the technology at this scale, with it being used to check a large volume of ads against an entire section of its advertising rules.
During the trial the regulator captured and processed almost 6,000 paid ads for alcoholic drinks, alcohol-free alternatives and similar products.
These ads were assessed by the ASA’s large language model, which flagged any ads at risk of breaking the rules, which were then assessed by human staff.
According to the results of the trial, the vast majority (96%) of ads were in line with ASA rules on alcohol, though interestingly for alcohol-free alternative products, around 48% were flagged for potential breaches. These were usually dues to unclear or missing ABV labelling.
“We believe AI has the potential to make our online ad regulation much faster and more effective,” said Adam Davison, director of data science at the ASA.
“This report shows that the latest advances in AI can be used to help our experts scan large volumes of ads, and check them against lots of complex rules more quickly.
“It highlights that the alcohol sector is generally sticking to the rules, which is great news. We’ve also spotted places where we think we can do more, and deliver better regulation thanks to our rapid adoption of AI.”