Archive · 9 Oct 2026
Ad Leaders Urge Human Guardrails as AI Agents Expand
Advertising companies are starting to use AI helpers to plan and manage ads.
These tools may help show ads to the right people and spend money more carefully.
But the experts say AI should not decide what a brand believes or what makes a good idea.
People should check that claims are true and that images, voices and other materials are used with permission.
Some AI-made content should be clearly identified so people are not misled.
A label does not make a false claim acceptable.
Agencies may need to train or hire people who know both technology and advertising.
Humans should remain responsible for the choices AI makes.
Meta, Walmart and Amazon are introducing or using AI agents for advertising tasks.
Rohit Ohri says each AI-led campaign needs a named human accountable for claims, permissions and final execution.
Ohri calls for disclosure when synthetic content could materially affect consumer understanding, while warning that labels cannot excuse misleading claims.
Dhruv Sachdeva sees AI as a way to improve audience targeting and media spending, but says humans must define the ideas and goals.
Ashish Bhasin says agencies need to adopt AI faster, develop skilled talent and keep people accountable for AI decisions.
- Who
- Meta, Walmart and Amazon are using or developing AI advertising tools; industry leaders Rohit Ohri, Dhruv Sachdeva and Ashish Bhasin discuss safeguards.
- What
- The article considers guardrails for AI agents that plan, create and optimize advertising campaigns.
- When
- The article describes current adoption and testing; no specific date is given.
- Where
- The discussion includes advertising in India.
- Why
- To address accountability, disclosure, brand safety and the human role as AI takes on more advertising tasks.
Human judgment and safeguards
AI-enabled optimization
Where AI should have authority
Human judgment and safeguards
Ohri and Bhasin emphasize human accountability for campaign decisions, consumer understanding and final execution.
AI-enabled optimization
Sachdeva argues AI can make media decisions more precise by testing audience groups and reallocating budgets based on results.
What makes advertising effective
Human judgment and safeguards
The contributors stress that human insight, cultural sensitivity, emotions and creative judgment cannot be delegated to AI.
AI-enabled optimization
Sachdeva says better AI-driven distribution can give creative work a fairer chance by reaching the right audience.
- Meta
- Testing agentic capabilities in Ads Manager for campaign planning and creation, audience targeting and budgets.
- Walmart
- Using Marty, an agentic AI advertising assistant, to automate and optimize ad campaigns.
- Amazon
- Rebuilding its ad platform around AI agents.
- Human accountability
- Ohri says every AI-led campaign should have a named person responsible for its claims, permissions and final execution.
- Disclosure
- Ohri says synthetic content should be disclosed when it could materially affect consumer understanding and in cases specified by ASCI.
- Human creative role
- Sachdeva says AI can optimize an idea’s distribution, while human leaders should determine the idea and brand voice.
- Agency readiness
- Bhasin says agencies need to adopt AI, build systems and upskill or hire people with relevant expertise.