BBDO Worldwide is advising its employees not to use generative AI tools for client work. 

BBDO Worldwide President and CEO Andrew Robertson warned employees to avoid using AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Midjourney and DALL-E 2, that create “new” content from publicly-collected data, according to an internal memo obtained by Ad Age. 

“While we are excited by the potential to incorporate generative AI into our services, we want to do so in a way that avoids unresolved issues such as potential violations of copyright and ownership and confidentiality concerns,” Robertson wrote in the email.

Also read: AI copyright issues facing brands and agencies 

The agency already uses traditional AI tools that don’t create new content but instead detect patterns and make predictions from existing data. 

Robertson outlined a series of guidelines for employees to follow as the agency explores and potentially integrates generative AI into its future business. Employees are not to use generative AI tools for client work unless approved by the agency’s legal team, should not invest in paid AI tools and should speak with Roberston first before engaging with clients about using AI in business and strategy. Some BBDO clients have already rejected work where this kind of AI was used, according to the memo. 

But employees are encouraged to explore these new tools in internal sandbox environments, and a multidisciplinary group of people from agencies, IT, security, training and development and legal was created to explore the future use of generative AI for the agency. 

“We will continue to experiment and explore AI as much as we can, because we know how exciting it is, but we are focusing on understanding the ins and outs of these tools outside of the public domain as much as possible while we’re still learning,” the agency said in a statement. 

BBDO’s copyright concerns are nothing new in the ad world as interest in AI continues to grow. In March, the U.S. Copyright Office said content mostly created by AI cannot be protected by copyright but will be reviewing applications on a case-by-case basis. Generative AI can make it unclear who is responsible for the intellectual conception, and bots creating content from existing copyrighted material makes for a murky ownership debate. 

But marketers are experimenting with generative AI, and restrictions may put agencies at a deficit.  

When Italy banned ChatGPT over concerns of potential digital privacy violations, Wunderman Thompson Italy was forced to stop studying the tool and jeopardize new ways of conducting business. Generative AI became a way for employees at the shop to brainstorm ideas and analyze data, and the ban has disrupted workflow and isolated the firm from global colleagues, Marco Bandini, chief technology officer at Wunderman Thompson Italy told Ad Age earlier this month.