How Meta labels AI-generated ads
Meta adds an "AI info" label to ads made or significantly edited with its own generative AI tools, and says it is starting to detect ads made with third-party AI tools too. The label usually sits in "About this ad" behind the three-dot menu. Store ads need no disclosure; political and social issue ads do.
By Emma Hollis. Writes our guides to Meta video ads, from what we see making ads with RhythmAds.
A pen name for the RhythmAds team. The photo is AI-generated.
Updated
In a RhythmAds ad, most scenes are motion templates built from your product's own photos. Six of our nine formats include at least one AI video scene; listicle, showcase and offer ads are built only from your photos. A short AI-generated clip appears only where the format calls for one, such as the presenter hook in our UGC formats. Because you approve a storyboard showing every scene and its script before the final video is made, you know which scenes include an AI presenter before the ad reaches Meta.
What the label is and where it shows
The label reads "AI info". For most labeled ads it sits behind the three-dot menu in the corner of the ad, inside "About this ad", which Meta now describes as the one place for an ad's transparency details. People only see it if they tap through.
There is one exception worth knowing. When Meta's own tools put an AI-generated photorealistic human into an ad, the label moves next to the "Sponsored" tag at the top of the ad, where everyone sees it.
What triggers it
| Situation | Labeled? | Where Meta says so |
|---|---|---|
| Image made or materially edited with Meta's generative AI ad tools | Yes | Meta help article and Meta newsroom |
| Minor edits with Meta's tools, like resizing or color correction | No | Meta help article |
| Meta's tools add a photorealistic AI human | Yes, next to "Sponsored" | Meta help article and Meta newsroom |
| Ad made with third-party AI tools | Increasingly yes: Meta is detecting these through industry-standard signals | Meta newsroom update (June 2026) and political ads policy |
Meta's pages don't agree on that last row. The help article still says ads made with third-party AI tools are not labeled. The newsroom post, updated June 1, 2026, and Meta's political ads policy say automated detection of third-party AI media is starting, with the label shown in "About this ad" and no action needed from the advertiser. We'd plan on the newer pages being right.
When you must disclose AI yourself
Only for ads about social issues, elections or politics. There, Meta requires advertisers to disclose when the ad contains a photorealistic image or video, or realistic-sounding audio, made or edited with AI to show any of these:
- a real person saying or doing something they did not say or do
- a realistic-looking person who does not exist, or a realistic-looking event that did not happen
- a realistic event that allegedly happened, but not a true recording of it
If an advertiser doesn't disclose, Meta rejects the ad, and repeated failures can bring penalties on the account.
Sources: [3]
What it means for a store's ads
Our view: assume any ad with an AI presenter or AI-generated footage may carry the label, and write it so that doesn't matter. An ad that presents the product honestly loses nothing when a viewer learns AI helped make it. An ad where an AI person poses as a happy customer does, and it has an FTC problem as well.
Ads built from your real product photos, with text and motion on top, are the least likely to look generated, because the product people see is the one they'll receive.
Where this stops being true
Meta rolls these labels out gradually and says the experience can vary by region, so not every AI-made ad shows a label today. Its own pages disagree on third-party detection. We can't tell you whether a given ad will be labeled, and we have no data on whether the label changes how an ad performs.
Questions
- Will my ad say "AI info" if I used an AI tool outside Meta?
- It may. Meta says it is starting to detect ads made with third-party AI tools through industry-standard signals and to label them in "About this ad". Its older help article says the opposite, so expect this to change.
- Do I have to tick a box to disclose AI in a normal product ad?
- Not for AI labels. Meta's self-disclosure rule covers ads about social issues, elections or politics. For other ads Meta applies the label itself.
- Does resizing or color-correcting with AI trigger the label?
- Not with Meta's own tools: its help article says minor edits like resizing or color correction are not labeled.
- Where do viewers see the label?
- Usually behind the three-dot menu, in "About this ad". If Meta's tools added a photorealistic AI human, the label sits next to "Sponsored" at the top of the ad.
See it on your own product
Paste a product page link. You get three ad ideas and a scene-by-scene storyboard, free, before you sign up.
Sources
- 1.Meta Help Center: How AI-generated images in ads are identified and labeled, checked October 30, 2026
- 2.Meta newsroom: Expanding GenAI transparency for Meta's ads products (updated June 1, 2026), checked October 30, 2026
- 3.Meta Transparency Center: Ads about social issues, elections or politics, checked October 30, 2026