AI-generated marketing content disclosed when misleading re: authorship

The FTC's 2024 AI guidance distinguishes between AI as a writing tool and AI-generated content that would be material to a consumer's decision — such as a founder letter, an expert opinion, or personalized outreach implying individual human judgment. A blog post attributed to a named human author but generated by an LLM, or a CEO voice email campaign written by AI, deceives consumers about the source of the advice they are relying on. Where authorship is a credibility signal, the FTC Act §5 deception standard applies to AI authorship just as it does to fabricated human authorship.

Add an AI-assistance disclosure to any content where authorship affects credibility, and restructure AI-written email campaigns to avoid false first-person voice.

function BlogPostMeta({ post }: { post: Post }) {
  return (
    <div className="text-sm text-gray-600">
      <span>By {post.author}</span>
      {post.aiAssisted && (
        <span className="ml-3 bg-gray-100 px-2 py-0.5 rounded text-xs">
          Written with AI assistance
        </span>
      )}
      <span className="ml-3">{formatDate(post.publishedAt)}</span>
    </div>
  )
}

// AI-generated mass email — avoid false individual voice
// AVOID: "I personally wanted to reach out to you, [name]..."
// (when the email is AI-generated to thousands of users)
//
// PREFER: "The [Product] team wanted to share..." or a clearly
//         branded automated format that does not imply individual
//         human authorship

The test: would a reasonable consumer make a different decision if they knew the content was AI-generated? If yes, disclose it. Commodity copy — FAQs, error messages, standard product descriptions — does not require disclosure where authorship is not a credibility factor.