In an era where artificial and authentic visuals are becoming indistinguishable, a curious reversal is unfolding in advertising: brands are now having to prove that their most meticulously crafted films are not made with AI. What began as a quiet creative shift has quickly become a cultural tension point. Viewers, increasingly familiar with the glossy, hyper-real, impossibly smooth aesthetic of generative imagery, are beginning to assume that anything visually elaborate or simply too perfect must be synthetic.
This assumption is now shaping brand behaviour. Surf Excel recently added an upfront disclaimer clarifying that its latest ad had 'no AI usage,' a move that would have seemed unnecessary barely a year ago. But today, as real production starts resembling the surreal sheen of AI-generated visuals, authenticity has become something advertisers feel compelled to assert.
Bauddhayan Mukherji, Founder, Little Lambs Films, the team behind the recent Surf Excel film, said that it never even crossed their minds during the making of the film that they would have to put a disclaimer at the beginning. They was completely consumed by the process of finding and training the monkeys. Since they could not shoot with monkeys in India, they first had to search for Indian-looking monkeys abroad. They researched extensively, even considering South Africa, but their primates look different. Eventually, they zeroed in on Bangkok, identified the monkeys, and began training them.
“At no point did we imagine that all this effort could be dismissed as AI or VFX. Only after the film released did I start receiving messages saying, ‘Great AI work, looks so real.’ It felt like someone had stolen our thunder. We had put in so much hard work, the kind that goes into any animal shoot, which is as challenging as working with babies. It requires immense precision because you need to know exactly what will finally make it to the edit,” he added.
It reflects a larger anxiety in the audience: a growing distrust of what they see on screen. The lines between human craft and machine creation have blurred so thoroughly that real animal shots, real sets, and real stunts are often mistaken for digital inventions. For filmmakers and agencies who pride themselves on practical production, this ironic confusion presents both a creative compliment and a communication challenge.
“People are equating anything that looks great or visually stunning to AI, especially if it is not easy to shoot. That is because over the last few years, we are being trained to associate certain colours, lighting, symmetry, worlds, characters with AI. So even genuine craftsmanship gets mistaken for something synthetic. It tells us that authenticity is not just what you shoot, it is how you signal it. It is the textures you leave in, the imperfections you keep, the marks that reassure viewers, ‘Yes, this was made by real people,’” said Pragati Rana, Head of Originals and Regional Creative Officer - West & Founding Partner, tgthr.
Is this the beginning of a new norm where ads must disclose the absence of AI the way they once disclosed its use? As brands lean on visual spectacle to stand out and AI aesthetics continue to dominate internet culture, authenticity itself might become the next frontier of advertising transparency.
“Will disclaimers become the norm? Possibly. But that is not the real story. The real shift is that audiences are getting trained to doubt what they see. And when doubt becomes default, authenticity becomes a competitive advantage. Not by shouting that something is human-made, but by creating work that feels unmistakably human in its texture, its imperfections, its emotional temperature,” said Sudish Balan, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Tonic Worldwide.
AI’s visual style has become so common that anything polished, surreal, or hyper-real is immediately assumed to be AI-made. According to experts, some brands will choose to add disclaimers, others will play into that perception, and some will shift toward more tactile, handcrafted storytelling instead. These disclaimers will probably appear as subtle cues wherever a real character, setting, or setup might easily be mistaken for AI-made visuals. It is essentially the advertising version of a “Smoking is injurious to health” warning.
“In a few years, ‘Not made using AI’ will become a differentiator for a brand’s intent and authenticity. It will be a flex. A creative badge of honour. Proof that real people sweat under real lights, build real sets, use their own originality, and argue their way to something better. A signal that the brand believes in true craft, in both its product and its storytelling, and is not in the business of cutting corners,” according to Pragati Rana.
To some degree, there have always been clients who chase cheaper options, whether today or 20 years ago, and they have often settled for lower quality. With AI now capable of producing fairly good output, the quality barrier may disappear, leaving cost as the main factor. But ultimately, it still comes down to the human behind the tool.
Mondelēz International, the company behind many of India’s favourite snacking brands, has introduced Biscoff to the Indian market through a partnership with Lotus Bakeries. Nitin Saini, VP Marketing, Mondelez India, said, “We will have a very strong media plan to support the launch. It will leverage conventional channels but also tap into new-age channels such as digital and influencers. It is going to be a holistic plan, and we will use AI wherever it makes sense, that is how we look at it.”
“I genuinely believe the human mind and human touch will always matter, and I hope we will still be doing this work even 20 years from now. What is crucial and something I constantly tell my storyboard artists, who are among the most anxious, is that as creators, we must embrace AI and make it work for us. We must remain the masters, and AI should remain the tool,” said Bauddhayan Mukherji. “I refuse to give credit to AI when I have done the hard work,” he added.
In the end, the debate is not about AI versus no AI, it is about trust. As audiences grow more skeptical and visuals grow more surreal, brands will be forced to decide what they want their work to signal: convenience or craft, speed or soul. Disclaimers may offer clarity, but they cannot replace the emotional truth that only human intention can create. Whether AI becomes a quiet assistant or a creative battleground, the industry’s future will hinge on one idea. Authenticity is no longer a by-product of production, it is the message itself. And the brands that understand this will ultimately stand apart.
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