TikTok Ran Unapproved AI Ads For Timberborn, Developer Says
A platform's ad automation can generate AI creative under a studio's name without its knowledge, which puts the studio's stated position on generative AI at risk of being judged by output it never approved.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
A Reddit post on September 14 showed two AI-generated images running as ads for the Steam city-building game Timberborn from developer Mechanistry's official TikTok account. Mechanistry communications manager Michal Amielanczyk said TikTok had changed its advertising system, and that AI ads were generated automatically from the trailer the company supplied. The ads ran without prior review or approval by Mechanistry, which said it has disabled them and apologized.
Mechanistry had only given TikTok the game's trailer as campaign material, the way it had before. According to communications manager Michal Amielanczyk, TikTok's changed advertising system then assembled AI-generated ad images on its own, and they ran without any prior review or approval from the studio. The developer disabled the ads and apologized. The same pattern had already been reported in February by Finji CEO Rebekah Saltsman, who learned from a user that AI ads for her company's titles were running without permission, including one for Usual June whose protagonist art was altered.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.