This week in AI: Myrtle Beach underwent an AI-generated rebrand, a startup peanut butter company used AI for a commercial and deepfakes were used for fun on social media, among other instances of machine-made creativity.

Ad Age’s Top 5 AI marketing activations has been tracking AI in advertising all year, explaining how ad agencies are embracing the new technology. AI is getting more sophisticated, too, with larger data models from the major platforms including Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI.

Since Ad Age’s last Top 5 AI activations in July, there have been plenty of developments. YouTube and Warner Music Group launched an incubator program to address how AI will affect the music industry, especially with how easy it is for generative AI to take any singer’s voice and make new songs. IPG Mediabrands became the latest major ad agency holding company to partner with Google to use its generative AI models. Last month, Snapchat rolled out a new feature called Dreams, which transforms people’s selfies into fantastical AI-generated art.

Even Ad Age is trying out AI’s capabilities, putting ChatGPT to the test against ad industry leader Martin Sorrell.

Below, a look at five of the latest AI activations to know about.

5. Spot the deepfakes

Google developed a new tool called SynthID, which is a watermark that identifies when images are generated by AI. The watermark is invisible, so it doesn’t tarnish the image like a traditional watermark, and it could become a protocol for the rest of the internet to help keep a lid on deepfakes. SynthID was unveiled last month at Google Cloud Next, and it shows that the major platforms are at least trying to figure out ways to identify when images are made by AI.

“While generative AI can unlock huge creative potential, it also presents new risks, like enabling creators to spread false information—both intentionally or unintentionally,” Google’s DeepMind team said in a blog post. “Being able to identify AI-generated content is critical to empowering people with knowledge of when they’re interacting with generated media, and for helping prevent the spread of misinformation.”

The ID still needs to be tested in the real world to see if bad actors can eventually hack their way around it.

Recent news: AI is revamping out-of-home advertising

4. AI fakery for fun

Social media apps have been introducing more generative AI tools, and now there is a new app called BeFake that is entirely based around AI. The app is a twist on BeReal, which is the app where users have one moment a day to capture a selfie and a photo of where they are. BeReal has always been about authenticity, but BeFake is about using generative AI to alter selfies and place people in far-out environments. “BeFake AI is the first AI-augmented social network, allowing you to transform every moment, no matter how messy, into a social media masterpiece,” app developer Alias Technologies shared on Apple’s App Store.

The more established social media companies already have introduced AI and augmented reality into their cameras, and Snapchat has been a leader here. Earlier this year, Snapchat launched its My AI chatbot and last month it revealed Dreams, which is a selfie-altering, AI image generator. Dreams makes people look like fantasy characters in deep-sea settings or the Renaissance.

3. PB & AI

The democratization of AI is putting powerful ad tools into the hands of startup brands. Here, Gary and Bary’s Peanut Butter, a small-batch brand, made an AI-generated commercial featuring fake dogs salivating over their product. Amber and Anthony Bendana are the couple behind the new peanut butter brand out of Santa Cruz, California, which is named for their golden retrievers. Matan Cohen Grumi, creative director at We Lift Productions, made the spot using Midjourney, RunwayML, Pika Labs and TopazAI. “All of the footage was made using generative AI but still incorporated all of my cinematic skills as a [TV commercial] director,” Grumi said.

“We are planning on using AI as much as possible to create fun community commercials,” the Bendanas said in a direct message on LinkedIn. “Gary and Bary are our dogs so that’s why the first AI was based on dogs. It’s undetermined whether it’s going to work or not, we have gotten a good amount of outreach from the commercial so far.”

2. Got gummy milk?

Big Milk had a creative hit with this campaign, which incorporated a hot trend in AI: fake collabs. In this case, AI helped concoct phony milk mashups to make fun of all the milk pretenders out there. 

California Milk Processor Board was behind the ad, and Gallegos United was the agency. They used AI to create gross-sounding fake milk drinks—gummy milk, sushi milk, salmon milk, and others. For people who don’t know, milk industry interest groups have been in a fight with alternative milk makers such as almond, oat, and soy milk. This campaign was an extension of the “Get Real. Got Milk?” ad push that launched last year, Ad Age’s Creativity team reported.

1. Myrtle Beach’s AI rebrand

Visit Myrtle Beach, the tourism agency for the South Carolina hotspot, went all-in on AI with a Reddit campaign this summer. The group used AI to rebrand the beach town, and generated images and ad copy that led to some funny surprises, including making a logo with a new town name: Mitarry Best. The fake rebrand was promoted on Reddit, leading to a storm of comments, mostly positive.

“To keep up with the latest tech trends, we’ve decided to fire our ad agency and go all-in on artificial intelligence,” read the ad on Reddit. “We let the most cutting-edge AI tools make the next tourism ad campaign for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from logo to buzzworthy stunts that will put us on the map.”

The AI-generated tourism images were emblematic of the types of images that come from tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney, with odd juxtapositions and an off-kilter aesthetic. Also, generative AI does not spell very well when creating images that display text, which likely accounts for why it named the town Mitarry Best. But Myrtle Beach embraced the new name, launching an online shop with merch emblazoned with “Mitarry Best.” The e-commerce site also appeared to use AI-generated copy with product names such as “dude aquatic leg curtains,” which apparently is AI speak for “bathing suit.”