The policy follows a New York law that took effect last month requiring disclosure of "synthetic performers" in advertising
Getty Images / Picture Alliance
Amazon $AMZN told third-party sellers this week that they must tag product images and videos containing photorealistic AI-generated people with specific metadata before uploading them to its marketplace, following a New York state law requiring greater transparency around AI-generated figures in advertising.
Amazon notified its seller community Wednesday of the new requirement, CNBC reported. Under the policy, sellers must apply specific metadata tags to product images and to "A+ content" — the videos and enhanced graphics that populate listing pages — prior to uploading them. Amazon's announcement stated that recent legislation obligates disclosure whenever advertisements feature photorealistic AI-generated people.
Enacted last month, the New York law mandates that companies reveal when "synthetic performers" stand in for human actors in ads; it defines that term to cover digitally created media that are indistinguishable from real people. Governor Kathy Hochul called it a "first-in-the-nation" law. Her office added in a statement: "Without notice that the content the public is viewing is not real, AI-generated synthetic performers and manipulated media can undermine one's ability to accurately distill fact from fiction."
Amazon plans to attach a visible marker to qualifying listings so consumers know when AI-generated people appear in the content, though it left unanswered the question of exactly when the marker will be triggered. The new rule carves out exceptions for content depicting TV, video game, or movie characters, and it does not cover real people whose likenesses have been modified with AI tools, the company said.
Third-party sellers drive a large share of Amazon's retail volume, responsible for more than 60% of units sold on the platform, CNBC reported. A growing number of those sellers are turning to AI — including tools that Amazon itself offers — to produce listing copy, images, and other promotional material.
Other platforms have moved to label AI-generated content as well. YouTube announced in May that it would automatically apply AI labels to videos when its systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, adding an enforcement layer on top of existing creator disclosure requirements. Meta $META, TikTok, Pinterest $PINS, and YouTube have all introduced some form of AI-content labeling on their platforms, though both TikTok and Meta have drawn scrutiny over their handling of ads that use AI-generated influencers to promote questionable products.
There is no federal law requiring companies to disclose when advertising content has been created using AI. California also moved this year to mandate that major AI developers encode watermarks into any images or video their systems produce.
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