Google highlights impact of GenAI in digital advertising in its latest ads safety report

Google has acknowledged the impact and challenges of generative AI (GenAI) in digital advertising and highlighted the key measures it is taking to improve the safety of its advertising services.

"The key trend in 2023 was the impact of generative AI. This new technology introduced significant and exciting changes to the digital advertising industry, from performance optimization to image editing. Of course, generative AI also presents new challenges. We take these challenges seriously and will outline the work we are doing to address them head-on," said the company in a blog post on its latest ads safety report.

Google also shared some of its measures to improve safety. They include removing and blocking ads that violate its policies.

The tech company revealed that in 2023, it blocked or removed 206.5 million advertisements across the globe for violating its misrepresentation policy, including ads that use scam tactics, and 273.4 million advertisements for violating its financial services policy.

"We also blocked or removed over 1 billion advertisements for violating our policy against abusing the ad network, which includes promoting malware," it said.

Google said it would continue to make significant investments in detection technology besides expanding its partnerships with organisations like the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Stop Scams UK to facilitate information sharing and protect consumers worldwide.

"Though we don’t yet know what the rest of 2024 has in store for us, we are confident that our investments in policy, detection and enforcement will prepare us for any challenges ahead," Google said.

Early this month, Google delisted 10 app developers from its Play Store in India over non-compliance with its billing policies. Later they were temporarily restored.