“Your AI Made a Great Ad. Your Lawyer Has Questions”: Andrew Lustigman and Morgan Spina Publish Article in NYLJ on AI Generated Advertising and Emerging Legal Risks

Andrew Lustigman, Chair of Olshan's Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Brand Management & Protection Group, and Branding Department associate Morgan Spina published an article in New York Law Journal entitled “Your AI Made a Great Ad. Your Lawyer Has Questions.” In the article, Andy and Morgan discuss how advertisers can leverage AI-generated marketing content responsibly while navigating evolving state and federal regulations. “AI offers tremendous creative potential for advertisers, but only those who invest in compliance infrastructure today will be positioned to fully capitalize on it tomorrow.,” they write. “Brands that treat AI governance as an afterthought risk not only regulatory penalties but reputational harm in an increasingly scrutinized marketplace.” Recent New York legislation will soon require disclosure when synthetic performers— defined as a digitally created asset using generative artificial intelligence or a software algorithm that creates the impression that the performer is a human when it is not recognizable as any identifiable natural human—are used in advertising, expands right of publicity protections for deceased personalities and highlights the growing importance of obtaining proper consent and rights clearance for AI-generated content. Andy and Morgan also examine copyright limitations where protections are only granted where AI supports human creativity rather than replacing it. “With the continued temptation to integrate AI into many facets of the advertising industry, it is important for advertisers to stay up to date with the changing regulatory landscape at both the state and federal levels,” they caution. “Further, advertisers must not blindly rely on AI output and instead must independently confirm that any content created by AI, in whole or in part, is produced with the appropriate consents.”