The news: Google announced an expanded use of AI to combat invalid ad traffic in a bid to help advertisers preserve budgets and maintain trust, per a recent blog post. Though Google has previously used AI to prevent invalid traffic (IVT), the company has updated its “industry-leading defenses powered by large language models,” with the goal of better analyzing ad placements, suspicious user interactions, and app and web content. Our take: By taking concrete steps to reduce IVT and address transparency concerns, Google may begin to rebuild trust with advertisers.

Digital ad fraud is still a major problem in the programmatic ecosystem, with advertiser losses estimated in the billions of dollars annually. This report explores how advertisers, publishers and partners are protecting themselves.

Three in four leading publishers have implemented ads.txt, one of the most important recent developments in programmatic ad fraud mitigation.