Archive · 29 Jan 2026
AI Creativity Matches Human Performance in Ads
A big study by famous universities found that ads made by AI are just as good as those made by humans.
They looked at over 500 million ads and found that AI ads got slightly more clicks.
The best AI ads looked like they were made by humans, with real faces in them.
This means AI can make good ads quickly and cheaply without losing quality.
Companies that sell food, drinks, and financial services are using AI ads the most.
The study used a special method to compare AI and human ads fairly.
AI-generated ads performed comparably to human-made ads in digital advertising.
AI ads had a slightly higher average click-through rate (0.76% vs. 0.65%).
Ads blending AI efficiency with human-like creative cues performed best.
Human faces in ads increased credibility and engagement.
AI-generated ads maintained or improved click-through rates without affecting conversions.
- Who
- Researchers from Harvard, Columbia, Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon
- What
- A study on AI-generated vs. human-created digital ads
- When
- Not specified
- Where
- Conducted through Taboola's Realize platform
- Why
- To evaluate the performance of AI-generated ads compared to human-made ones
- Study Participants
- Harvard, Columbia, Technical University of Munich, Carnegie Mellon
- Ad Impressions Analyzed
- 500 million
- Clicks Analyzed
- 3 million
- AI Ads CTR
- 0.76%
- Human Ads CTR
- 0.65%
- Key Trust Signal
- Human faces
- Leading Sectors
- Food and beverage, personal finance
- Methodology
- Quasi-experimental 'sibling ads' approach