Not to take anything away from humans, who’ve had a great run of creating things over the last few million years, but in advertising, their competition seems to be moving faster than any evolution chart can possibly track.
A recent study by Taboola — in collaboration with researchers from Columbia University, Harvard University, the Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon University — found AI-generated ads performed on par with those made by humans, and outperformed human ads when they avoided appearing like AI ads.
“AI-generated ads perceived as human-made achieved the highest CTR of all groups,” the study says, finding that, of the more than 300,000 ads analyzed, human-generated ads had an average 0.65% CTR and AI-generated ads saw a 0.76% CTR before perception was calculated. “Conversely, ads perceived as AI-generated were penalized by users, even when those ads were actually created by humans. This indicates that perceived artificiality, rather than actual origin, has the greatest impact on engagement.”
(Source: Taboola)
Ads perceived as being AI-generated had such “common signals” as overly polished visuals, heavy color saturation, and strong symmetry, while “human-ness” was most strongly indicated by “large, clear human faces.”
“Human faces were the single most influential factor in making ads feel human-made and in driving higher engagement,” the study says. “[Generative AI] success depends on using AI thoughtfully and aligning creative output with proven human-centered best practices, such as prioritizing authentic imagery and human faces.”
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