Meta's AI Ads Run Amok, Frustrating Brands

Meta is pushing advertisers to use its AI tools in ads, but brands report chaotic results—AI-generated changes that alter products, oddly added imagery, garbled text, and other misrepresentations. Bugs can automatically toggle AI features on, and brands must manually verify campaigns, with examples like a pajama dress turned into a shirt-and-pants image, a women’s group ad suddenly including men, and a REI bike ad depicted with two handlebars. While Meta says AI outputs can be reviewed and has rolled out a quality-control dashboard and AI labels, the issues persist for some campaigns. Despite the glitches, Meta’s ad platform remains dominant due to scale and data, though marketers warn that relying on automated AI can risk brand consistency and messaging.