Advertisers Urged to Guide AI Development Amid Growing Information Crisis

Global advertising spending has surpassed $1 trillion annually, prompting the United Nations to call on major brands to take responsibility for shaping the future of artificial intelligence. A new UN report warns that failure to establish guardrails could worsen an already deteriorating global information integrity landscape.

The brief, titled “Strengthening Information Integrity: Advertising, Artificial Intelligence and the Global Information Crisis,” was jointly released by the UN Department of Global Communications and the Conscious Advertising Network on Wednesday. It highlights how unchecked AI adoption in the advertising sector is intensifying risks throughout the digital information ecosystem.

According to the report, the advertising industry occupies a pivotal position in online information flow. Advertising spending decisions directly influence which content gets produced, amplified, and monetized across digital platforms. These dynamics are becoming more pronounced as AI tools become increasingly embedded in media buying processes and content generation.

“Advertising funds the systems that help shape what people see, trust and believe,” said Charlotte Scaddan, UN Senior Adviser on Information Integrity. “Without swift action and guardrails, AI risks accelerating the breakdown of information ecosystem integrity. Advertisers have the power to help fix it.”

The brief outlines several escalating challenges. AI is speeding up the spread of disinformation, hate speech, and polarizing content, while advertising continues to monetize online material regardless of its quality or factual accuracy. Compounding this problem is the lack of transparency in AI-driven advertising systems, raising significant concerns about potential fraud and inefficiency.

Independent journalism faces an existential threat from the rise of AI-generated content, according to the report. The proliferation of synthetic media is further eroding public trust in digital environments, which in turn undermines the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

These issues represent not just societal concerns but direct business risks. As audience trust in digital platforms deteriorates, engagement metrics decline and return on investment suffers – creating a problematic cycle for advertisers.

“Brands are under pressure to move fast on AI, but doing so without guardrails risks undermining the very environments their marketing depends on,” explained Harriet Kingaby from the Conscious Advertising Network, a global coalition advocating for responsible advertising practices. “This is not about slowing innovation – it’s about making sure it works for business and society.”

The report calls for coordinated action from multiple stakeholders. It urges policymakers to align AI and advertising governance frameworks with international standards on information integrity, while working alongside industry players and civil society to enhance transparency.

For advertisers specifically, the brief recommends demanding greater visibility across AI supply chains, prioritizing quality media environments for ad placement, and using their financial leverage to pressure digital platforms into creating stronger user and consumer safeguards.

The business case for these changes appears compelling. The brief cites evidence suggesting that improving transparency in media buying can deliver double-digit performance improvements for advertising campaigns – indicating that responsible practices can align with commercial objectives.

This intervention comes at a critical moment when AI deployment is accelerating across the advertising ecosystem, from targeting and personalization to creative development and media planning. The trillion-dollar advertising industry’s approach to these technologies could significantly influence whether AI development strengthens or further damages public discourse and information integrity.

The UN’s focus on advertising’s role in the information ecosystem represents a notable shift in approaching digital governance challenges, recognizing that commercial incentives and spending patterns often drive online content dynamics more powerfully than platform policies alone.