TLDR
Google started automatically applying AI disclosure labels to image and video ads created or altered with its own generative tools from July 2026. The label surfaces inside a new 'How this ad was made' section in the My Ad Center panel, reachable via the three-dot menu on ads across Search, YouTube and Discover. Advertisers no longer control whether the label appears: if Google's tools made or modified the creative, the disclosure goes on. Australian advertisers face no local mandate yet, but the label will attach to their ads regardless, making a creative audit an immediate practical priority.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Disclosure becomes a default
Google automatically added AI disclosure labels to image and video ad creatives from July 2026, removing advertiser choice from a decision that previously sat with the buyer. When advertisers use Google's generative AI advertising tools to create ads, Google automatically adds a disclosure to each ad's My Ad Center panel.verifiedVerified Source: blog.google[1] In some regions the label may also appear directly on the ad unit itself.[1]
Keerat Sharma, Google's VP and General Manager of Ads Privacy and Safety, framed the change as a transparency baseline. Sharma said Google is adding a 'How this ad was made' section to the My Ad Center panel, accessible globally by selecting the three-dot menu or info icon on ads across Search, YouTube and Discover, which will indicate if an ad was created or edited with AI.[1]
Where the label appears
The AI label sits inside the 'How this ad was made' section of the My Ad Center panel, accessible globally across Search, YouTube and Discover.[3] Consumers reach it by tapping the three-dot menu or the info icon on any ad unit. The label travels with the creative wherever it runs, so a campaign spanning Google's display network carries the disclosure throughout.
Starting in July 2026, Google allows the addition of text or visual labels directly within image and video ad creatives generated or modified using AI, and may automatically apply labels to assets created by Google AI tools.verifiedVerified Source: support.google.com[2] That distinction matters: advertisers who manually upload AI-generated images produced outside Google's own tools are not automatically labelled, but any creative touched by Google's native generative features is.
The Display and Video 360 mechanics
Buyers running programmatic campaigns through Display and Video 360 get a purpose-built management layer. In Display and Video 360, advertisers can use the new AI label column in the creatives gallery, filters and bulk upload spreadsheets to manage and report on the AI label status of assets.verifiedVerified Source: support.google.com[4] The column lets teams audit large creative libraries quickly and filter by label status before a campaign goes live.
For agencies managing dozens of client accounts, that column is likely to become a standard pre-flight check. Creative teams will need to confirm label status alongside the usual brand-safety and targeting reviews before any AI-generated asset is approved for serving.
The regulatory push behind the change
Google did not act in isolation. AI regulations in the European Union, India and New York already require that ads using AI-generated or AI-edited assets include disclosures informing consumers the ads were made with AI.[2] Automatic labelling converts a patchwork of regional compliance obligations into a single default setting that satisfies each jurisdiction at once.
Australia has no equivalent local mandate at this time. Google's policy applies globally, so Australian advertisers will see labels attached to their AI-generated creatives regardless of what domestic law currently requires. That creates a practical disclosure reality even without a legal one.
What Australian advertisers need to check now
The immediate action is a creative audit. Any image or video ad built or modified inside Google Ads using generative AI features already carries the label as of July 2026. Advertisers who did not realise those tools were in use, or who cannot trace the origin of every asset in a large campaign library, face the risk of labels surfacing on ads without any internal record of why.
Keerat Sharma, VP and General Manager of Ads Privacy and Safety at Google, said that when advertisers use Google's generative AI advertising tools to create ads, Google will automatically add a disclosure to each ad's My Ad Center panel.[1] For Australian marketers, that commitment ends the debate about whether to disclose. The remaining question is whether a brand's own messaging about AI-made content matches what the label now says on every ad it serves.
What the label means for brand creative decisions
Bushletter could not independently verify performance data on how AI disclosure labels affect consumer behaviour, as no independent research was available in the verified source bundle. The figures and policy details cited here come from Google's own product announcements and support documentation.
What the policy does settle is process. Marketers who use Google's generative tools now advertise under a disclosed-AI regime whether or not they designed their campaigns with that in mind. Agencies and in-house teams that have not yet logged which assets were AI-generated inside Google Ads should treat the Display and Video 360 AI label column as their fastest route to an accurate inventory. Google's policy page for Display and Video 360 confirms the column is live as of July 2026.[4]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does the AI label appear on all Google ads?
Where does the AI label appear for consumers?
Do Australian advertisers have to comply with AI disclosure laws?
How can programmatic buyers manage AI labels in bulk?
Dominic Ashworth writes about marketing, media and brands. He is fascinated by how attention is won and lost, and by the mastheads and campaigns that manage to hold it.
