“We need our own ‘black box’ to monitor and scrub content”
The ad industry is facing a new set of challenges shaped by AI, deepfakes, and influencer-led content. As industry watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) turns 40, newly appointed Chairman Sudhanshu Vats outlines his vision to strengthen the institution, deepen digital oversight, and leverage technology for responsible advertising. In conversation with Geetika Srivastava, he discusses ASCI’s roadmap for the next phase. Edited excerpts:
The biggest gripe against ASCI has been that it lacks teeth. How do you hope to tackle that?
There are three key areas I would like to focus on. The first is building greater awareness and education, the next logical step for most self-regulatory bodies to create a more conducive ecosystem. We began this journey two years ago with the launch of the ASCI Academy. The Academy has been instrumental in engaging with corporates, young practitioners, and academic institutions, working with teachers, professors, and students alike and plans to accelerate the same in the coming years. The second area is ASCI’s growing role in addressing emerging challenges and trends within society and the advertising ecosystem. We have already taken steps in this direction through seminars, white papers, and thought leadership on themes such as AI, gender bias, influencer marketing, and, more recently, dark patterns.
The third area, and perhaps the one that will define the next phase of our growth, is leveraging technology to manage the rapidly expanding digital ecosystem. I often refer to this as “AI for ASCI” an effort to integrate technology, AI and machine learning into our processes so that we are better equipped to address the new realities of the digital world. This marks the beginning of an important thrust area for us as we step into this 40th year.
What has been that one key initiative of ASCI that has had a far-reaching impact on the advertising ecosystem?
We’ve addressed dark patterns and conducted work in the gaming space. Going forward, we will also focus on emerging challenges such as deepfakes and AI-led advertising. Our goal is to ensure that such innovations are managed responsibly, maintaining authenticity and ensuring content remains true to the brand. This is important not only for brand owners, but equally for ASCI, so that advertising continues to uphold transparency and is not misleading to consumers. This will remain a key area of ongoing work for us.
AI seems to be reshaping how ads are being created and consumed. How are you preparing to regulate things like deepfakes, misleading synthetic content, or generative AI in general?
There are three ways we are tackling this piece as we go forward. First, ASCI now has membership with the big technology platforms. The number of digital content pieces generated may run into millions. In a country like India, with 1.4 billion people, the number of influencers is very high, maybe about a million plus now. Platforms on which these activities happen are fewer and bigger. The first action that has taken place at ASCI is that these platforms are now actively involved with us. In fact, a few of them are also on our board, so they are active members.
These platforms always have the technology and are sometimes best equipped to tackle this issue. Therefore, the second thing is opening dialogues and working with these platforms themselves to tackle some of this. The good news is that most of these platforms, if not all, are in principle aligned because they also don’t want any of these problems. They are large, responsible companies and want to do the right thing. Taking their help to address these issues is the second stage.
The third area is to build capability internally at ASCI on two counts. One is what I was calling the AI component. This has two parts. The first part is developing, perhaps in partnership with a technology company, our own “black box,” which makes us more efficient in monitoring and scrubbing content, and more effective in looking at issues. The second part is working with the new ecosystem of content generators, which has grown multifold. The good news is that there are now people bringing influencers together. There are agencies that handle influencers and digital content, many of them, and some are large. How we work with this emerging ecosystem is key to tackling this space. We will approach this partly in a conventional sense, physically, and partly through technology and digital channels. Not all of it will be online, because it’s impossible to educate or reach over a million influencers in person. We neither have the bandwidth nor would it necessarily be the right approach. We can also use digital te
What has been the progress in the area of influencer advertising guidelines?
There are so many challenges that the real task is to get everyone to understand them. Before compliance can happen, awareness and understanding are crucial. Generating awareness in advertising remains our first and fundamental challenge.
The good news is that we are starting to see some early progress. Wherever possible, we are able to reach people and engage them. In some instances, we’ve done this quite effectively and have been successful in managing it.
So, it’s really a combination of both: working to make people aware, educate them, and explain what is right and what is wrong, and at the same time, being able to catch and act when something goes wrong. Fortunately, we are beginning to see some positive momentum in this area.
Is there a specific sectors that has emerging as the biggest violator?
There have been a few sectors that have traditionally had slightly higher violations than others. For instance, the health sector tends to be one where people often use hyperboles or exaggerate, and that has been the case in the past. Some of the claims made are not always substantiated with data or evidence. This is an area that existed earlier, and it’s likely to continue evolving as we move forward, especially in health and sometimes in skincare. Ensuring that consumers are presented with accurate information in this space remains important.
The second area is betting and gaming, which is an ongoing focus for us. The third area is real estate. We now work with Maharashtra RERA to ensure that real estate advertising is factual, accurate, and that commitments are made responsibly and reasonably. Unlike products like toothpaste or skincare, most real estate transactions are once-in-a-lifetime events for most Indians, so it’s critical to get this right. The good news is that Maharashtra RERA is actively collaborating with us, and based on the work we’ve done with them, there may be other state RERAs interested in similar collaborations and we’ve already seen some initial inquiries in that area.
What do you see as the single biggest challenge to responsible advertising going forward?
The growth of technology has led to the spawning of new digital avenues and the increased use of AI. The use of AI for productivity is very positive, but when it comes to generating fake advertising or misleading content, that’s where we need to be very careful. This is one of the biggest challenges going forward.
Technology is developing so fast, for instance, deepfakes are becoming increasingly sophisticated and that creates a significant area of concern. Managing this is the responsibility not just of brand owners but also of ASCI, because we have to safeguard the interests of consumers as much as possible. This is one of the key thrust areas we are focusing on as we move forward.
What is ASCI doing to strengthen consumer trust in advertising in general?
First and foremost, we exist to ensure that consumers are receiving the right advertising and are not being misled. This is an area where we need to do more work, to make sure that more and more people are aware of ASCI’s role. We are exploring ways to achieve this, including considering how people consume advertising and how best to reach them. We are actively thinking about these approaches, so you’ll have to wait and watch this space.