Synthetic Media Producer Is the Latest Role Addressing Gen AI Ethics

IPG's Momentum Worldwide is preparing for the deluge of artificial intelligence-generated content. The agency is creating the role of synthetic media producer to help reduce risks and mitigate liability when it comes to working with AI-generated content for its clients, which are growing increasingly concerned over its risks. Sitting within Momentum Worldwide's content strategy team and reporting to the agency's head of global technology operations, the SMP will be responsible for assessing AI-generated content for factual inaccuracies, logical inconsistencies or biased outputs. They will educate clients on the possibility of hallucinations and how to ensure accuracy before using AI generated output, integrate deepfake detection into workflows and monitor synthetic media regulations. They will liaise between the agency’s legal, technical and creative teams, and they can earn between $80,000 per year to $160,000 and up based on seniority. “There is a lack of transparency on what information the generative AI platforms [are] trained on, what rights exist within that corpus of data and what rights had been violated in order to get the outputs,” said Jason Snyder, chief technology officer at Momentum Worldwide. “It's a big issue and, quite frankly, an obstacle to being able to adopt this technology and integrate [it] into everything at scale.” Synthetic content—any output partially or fully produced by gen AI, such as deepfakes—globally increased tenfold across all industries from 2022 to 2023, according to Sumsub research, with a 1,740% surge in the U.S. The risks of gen AI content are becoming clearer: Google’s Gemini chatbot was suspended after it created images depicting people of color wearing German military uniforms from World War II. Currently, Momentum appears to be unique in creating this role. Headhunters have seen the integration of gen AI tools and outputs into roles within functions like art directors, video producers, content strategists and media producers, but they have not yet seen the use of the term in job titles across marketing. LinkedIn had no data on the growth of the role. Other IPG agencies are considering the best way to insert a human curation phase to review AI-generated content before clients see it, and synthetic media producers are one example, said a spokesperson. "We’re seeing investment in content development," said Mark Wagman, managing director, MediaLink. "From helping understand the impact of deepfakes to helping a legal team understand how gen AI solutions may require changes to ethics guidelines, there’s certainly a run on talent that can help navigate the buy side of this marketplace through the next era." Key features of the role With the SMP role, Momentum can address threats posed by intellectual property and copyright matters, ethics violations, data decay, hallucinations and deepfakes. They will stay on top of regulatory changes surrounding synthetic media, contributing to the organization's ethical AI strategy, such as mitigating societal bias in AI solutions. They will also assist agency legal counsel in selecting reputable gen AI vendors, outlining their potential constraints and assisting in writing client agreements regarding data use for AI training. “Finding this exact skill set might be challenging initially,” Wagman said. “It might make sense to upskill someone internally with an existing foundation or tap into adjacent skill areas and invest in training.” Other agencies choose to integrate gen AI expertise within existing roles, but having a centralized expert, according to Snyder, lets existing teams focus on their core strengths. “This combined approach fosters scalability, adaptability and a Momentum-wide culture of responsible innovation,” Snyder told ADWEEK. “While upskilling sessions ensure broad understanding, the dedicated role provides subject matter expertise for the ongoing guidance and infrastructure necessary to leverage gen AI ethically.” Other agency approaches Other agencies have their approaches to mitigating risk. Agency holding group WPP—which invested $317 million in its AI efforts this year—established a legal team to oversee AI initiatives at the holding company level, said Oliver Feldwick, head of innovation at WPP agency The&Partnership. The&Partnership formed a 10-member cross-departmental team in September, the AI Ethics Council, which meets monthly and is tasked with monitoring the responsible implementation of gen AI within the agency, identifying risks and potential pitfalls, Feldwick added. Elsewhere, Omnicom and Media.Monks have integrated the responsibility of using gen AI ethically within existing roles across all its teams, including legal and creative. “There’s no AI officer or AI strategist or AI creative,” said Debora den Iseger, senior vice president, head of content and innovation, studios, Media.Monks. “The KPI (key performance indicator) is embedded in the existing roles, therefore, not changing the structure.”

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Synthetic Media Producer Is the Latest Role Addressing Gen AI Ethics

IPG's Momentum Worldwide plans to fill the role, which aims to ethically and responsibly manage synthetic content, in the next year

Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal