The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has withdrawn a top award after discovering that the winning campaign used manipulated content and AI-generated visuals to misrepresent its results.
The Creative Data Lions Grand Prix, originally awarded to Brazilian agency DM9 for its campaign “Efficient Way to Pay” on behalf of Consul, has been officially rescinded. An internal investigation, conducted in collaboration with DM9 and independent auditors, found that the campaign’s case film included falsified information, presenting simulated real-world results created through synthetic visuals and AI-based storytelling.
Festival organisers stated that the jury was unaware of the content manipulation at the time of judging, which violated strict rules on factual accuracy. Cannes Lions described the withdrawal as “the only appropriate course of action” and confirmed that all associated awards have been revoked.
In a further development, DM9 has voluntarily withdrawn two additional campaigns from this year’s competition: “Plastic Blood” for OKA Biotech and “Gold = Death” for Urihi Yanomami.
The controversy has prompted Cannes Lions to implement a new set of rules aimed at strengthening ethical standards in the age of generative AI. Among the measures introduced are a strenghtened code of conduct, mandatory disclosure of any generative AI usage, deployment of AI content detection tools, and establishment of an AI ethics review panel.
Under the revised guidelines, all entrants must formally commit to ethical standards and disclose any use of generative AI in their submissions. Failure to do so will result in disqualification or withdrawal of the entry. The Festival will also employ new technology to identify synthetic or manipulated content and assess submissions for compliance with the updated standards.
These steps are part of Cannes Lions’ broader commitment to maintaining the integrity and credibility of the awards amid rapidly evolving creative technologies.