AI-generated creative for regulated clients carries the same liability as human-created work.
Small agencies use AI for creative ideation, ad copy generation, and social media content at scale. The velocity gain is the competitive advantage. The problem surfaces when AI-generated creative touches regulated industries — health claims for a supplement client, financial projections for a fintech client, fair housing language for a real estate client. FTC Section 5 and sector-specific claims rules apply to the output regardless of how it was generated. Most small agencies have no mechanism to enforce client-specific regulatory constraints on their AI workflows.
What Ontic Does Here
Ontic's Studio provides AI creative assistance. The Refinery adds brand voice and policy guardrails that enforce client-specific regulatory requirements — health disclaimers, financial disclosures, fair housing compliance — as deterministic constraints on the generation pipeline. The agency ships faster because the governance is automated, not manual.
Recommended Deployment
Studio
Assists judgment
★ Start here
- •Creative ideation
- •Ad copy generation
- •Social media content
Refinery
Enforces authority
- •Brand voice and policy guardrails
- •Regulated-claims checks (e.g., finance/health disclaimers)
Clean Room
Enforces defensibility
Not applicable for this segment
Expansion path: studio -> refinery
Regulatory Context
FTC Act Section 5 applies to AI-generated advertising identically to human- created content. NAD/NARB self-regulatory guidelines apply to AI-generated claims. Sector-specific rules — FDA for health, SEC for financial, HUD for housing — apply based on the client's industry, not the agency's. State consumer protection statutes add jurisdiction-specific exposure.
Applicable Frameworks
Common Objections
"We're a creative shop, not a compliance operation."
The client's regulator does not care who generated the content. When AI- generated creative for a pharmaceutical client triggers an FDA inquiry, the agency is named alongside the client. Ontic makes compliance invisible to the creative workflow — guardrails fire in the background, not in the brief.
Evidence
- →Daily AI use in advertising jumped from 37% to 60% in one year
- →NAD/NARB referrals for AI-generated claims began in 2024
- →FTC Section 5 enforcement does not distinguish human vs. AI authorship
Questions to Consider
- ?Do any of your clients operate in regulated industries (health, finance, real estate)?
- ?How do you enforce client-specific claims restrictions on AI-generated creative?
- ?If a client's regulator asked for the approval chain on an AI-generated ad, could you produce it?
Primary Buyer
Agency Principal / Creative Director
Deal Size
SMB (< $25K ACV)
Implementation
Low — Days to first value
Start With
Studio
Ready to see how Ontic works for small agency?