- Cannes Lions has withdrawn the Creative Data Lions Grand Prix winner, “Efficient Way to Pay” for Consul, after consultation with entrant agency DM9, per an announcement from the awards entity. The move follows the invention that the entrant used artificial intelligence-generated content to simulate real-world events and campaign outcomes.
- DM9 also withdrew entries for its other clients, OKA Biotech (“Plastic Blood”) and Urihi Yanomami (“Gold = Death”), and all awards given to those campaigns were also withdrawn. In total, the three campaigns accounted for 12 awards: one Grand Prix, three golds, 4 silvers and three bronzes.
- As a result of these revelations, Cannes Lions introduced a series of measures to handle the integrity of its awards within the generative AI era, including a code of conduct, transparency standards and the use of AI-detection tools for future competitions.
DM9’s use of generative AI inside its case film “breach[ed] the Cannes Lions entry rules on factual representation, and undermines the trust placed within the work by our juries and the broader community,” reads a statement issued by the awards entity. “Cannes Lions exists to have fun creativity that’s real, representative and responsible.”
The decision to mutually withdraw the entries and the awards was made after an investigation and review with the relevant parties and independent auditors, based on Cannes Lions. The news is a signal of the kinks yet to be worked out across the use of AI, despite some marketers’ excitement for the buzzy tech.
Cannes Lions said it will introduce a series of enhanced measures for upcoming competitions that features requiring participating organizations to sign an enhanced code of conduct. Mandatory disclosure of AI use will even be part of the entry process, “with non-disclosure constituting grounds for disqualification or withdrawal,” the use of content detection tools to discover manipulated case movies and materials and a dedicated review committee comprised of experts in AI, ethics and content integrity.
DM9 is an element of Omincom Group’s DDB Network. It was unclear what effect the withdrawal of the Consul, OKA Biotech and Urihi Yanomami entries would have on DDB’s “Network of the Year” honors from this 12 months’s Cannes Lions festival. Other campaigns from DM9, including those for KFC (“Prize on the Bone”) and MRV Construction (“Building Futures”) weren’t withdrawn.
Additionally, DM9’s chief creative officer and co-president Icaro Doria has resigned from the agency, based on Adweek. Doria took responsibility for the controversy, and in its wake, the agency announced that it will introduce internal safeguards, including an AI ethics committee, to forestall similar occurrences. Doria’s alternative has not been identified.
This 12 months’s Cannes Lions event was crammed with drama beyond the problems surrounding DM9. LePub’s Bronze Lion-winning campaign, “Followers Store,” for New Balance and São Paulo FC can also be under scrutiny for alleged lack of client approval and unverifiable performance claims.
Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind Marketing Dive, is the organizer of the Cannes Lions event. Informa has no influence over Marketing Dive’s coverage.
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