Marketing misinformation in the age of AI

Abstract

We shine a spotlight on marketing misinformation—claims about products and brands that contradict or distort verifiable facts. Misinformation may be created unintentionally or intentionally by companies, competitors, customers, or third parties seeking to harm companies or consumers. We focus on the role of AI in creating, obfuscating, and disseminating misinformation in the form of text, audio, images, and videos generated using large language models. This type of information can pose a substantial risk for brand safety. Consumers may be aware that AI can generate misinformation but may lack the ability to guard against it. We discuss how different stakeholders in the information ecosystem can help in the prevention and correction of misinformation and propose a future research agenda in this critical and fast-growing area.