The news: Pennsylvania joined a patchwork of states that are adding AI disclosure laws in lieu of federal guidelines. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Act No. 99 of 2026, or the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act, at the end of October.

The legislation states that radio stations and advertisers must clearly disclose when AI-generated or AI-modified content is used for the sale of consumer goods, including in images, audio, video, and text. It applies when synthetic content could lead to a false or misleading understanding about the “nature, origin, or authenticity” of a product or service.

Across mediums, disclosures need to be loud and clear enough to hear (for audio content), large enough to read and appear on screen for a fair amount of time (for visual ads), and in a noticeable location (for print ads). The law excludes content that’s evidently fictional, parody, satire, commentary, or criticism, as well as content that’s text only.

Violators can face civil fines of no more than $3,000 and/or a civil penalty.

Zooming out: The statute aligns with consumers’ skepticism about AI across the board and their desire for transparency from brands.

• 73% of adult Gen Zers call it unacceptable for businesses to use AI to create people or voices in ads, per Bentley University-Gallup.
• 44% of US social media users are uncomfortable with brands using AI influencers, per Sprout Social.
• 35% of US teens ages 13 to 18 have been misled by fake content, per Common Sense Media.

And while marketer adoption is accelerating, doubts linger around how much AI is actually improving workflows. Eighty-eight percent of marketers in the US, the UK, Australia, and Brazil say AI has increased their creative output, but just 45% say the quality of the creative is significantly better since adding AI, per a TikTok study conducted by WARC.

Implications for marketers: Navigating differing—and potentially inconsistent—rules across state lines could be either a compliance barrier or a gateway to clearer communication with users. Campaigns that are clearly AI have the potential to either flop or succeed, meaning usage should be carefully weighed.

Transparency can increase user trust while adding the net-positive effect of brands needing to vet AI outputs’ accuracy even more carefully to avoid misleading information, since minor hallucinations may cause confusion.

Carefully measure time savings and quality standards arising from AI adoption against the additional time spent that disclosures require.

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