SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea will require advertisers to label their ads made with artificial intelligence technologies from next year as it seeks to curb a surge of deceptive promotions featuring fabricated experts or deep-faked celebrities endorsing food or pharmaceutical products on social media.Following a policy meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Wednesday, officials said they will ramp up screening and removal of problematic AI-generated ads and impose punitive fines, citing growing risks to consumers — especially older people who struggle to tell whether content is AI-made.Lee Dong-hoon, director of economic and financial policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said in a briefing that such ads are “disrupting the market order,” and that “swift action is now essential.”“Anyone who creates, edits, and posts AI-generated photos or videos will be required to label them as AI-made, and the users of the platform will be prohibited from removing or tampering with those labels,” he said.The problem is also spreading into areas such as private education, cosmetics and illegal gambling services, leaving the Korea Consumer Agency and other watchdogs struggling to keep pace, the Government Policy Coordination Office said.Beyond deceptive ads and misinformation, South Korea is also grappling with sexual abuse enabled by AI and other digital technologies.A Seoul court last month sentenced a 33-year-old man to life in prison for running an online blackmail ring that sexually exploited or abused more than 200 victims, including many minors who were threatened with deepfakes and other manipulated sexual images and videos.Popular ReadsMother of Karoline Leavitt's nephew ordered released from DHS detentionDec 8, 3:50 PMAlina Habba resigns as New Jersey US attorney after appeals court defeatDec 8, 2:10 PMTrump admin live updates: Trump pardons former entertainment exec indicted by own DOJDec 4, 6:23 AMPrime Minister Kim, Seoul’s No.2 official behind President Lee Jae Myung, said during the policy meeting that it’s crucial to “minimize the side effects of new technologies” as the country embraces the “AI era.”
South Korea to require advertisers to label AI-generated ads
