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Whether you like it or not, generative AI is everywhere today. The progress in this field has been exponential, especially over the last couple of years, spurred on by high-quality video generation tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Gemini’s Veo 3. Now, in a move that won’t surprise many, Google has published its first-ever ad, fully created using AI.

Google’s new ad leverages the Veo 3 advanced video generation mode, per The Wall Street Journal. The ad began appearing on TV and movie theaters yesterday, and it will appear on social and other digital platforms starting today.

Credit: YouTube

The ad titled “Planning a Quick Getaway? Just Ask Google,” features Tom, a plush toy-like turkey who wants to escape his farm ahead of Thanksgiving later this month for obvious reasons. We then see Tom opening the Google app on what we assume is a Pixel phone to enable AI Mode and chart his escape from the coop.

Without spoiling the ending, let’s just say Tom achieved what he set out to do.

Google has avoided the uncanny valley phenomenon by using a non-human character for this ad, although we are unable to confirm whether the voice used here is also AI-generated.

This won’t be the last in the series of ads Google intends to publish ahead of the extended holiday season, with a version for Christmas expected to land soon.

Speaking to WSJ, the VP and co-founder of Google Creative Lab, Robert Wong, said the team came up with the idea to strike a nostalgic note with audiences, and then brought it to fruition using Veo 3’s capabilities.

Wong understands why some people may not be fully on board with the idea of using generative AI everywhere. “I have the same concerns about the, you know, what we call the race to the bottom, the AI slop stuff,” Wong told WSJ.

“The one thing I would say is, there were bad ads before AI and there’ll be bad ads after AI, and the only people who can stop it are the people behind the ads,” Wong added.

The video itself doesn’t have an AI disclaimer, but YouTube has one

This Thanksgiving-themed ad doesn’t contain any explicit disclaimers about the use of AI, but as 9to5Google pointed out, the YouTube video page carries an “Altered or synthetic content” label under the **How this content was made **section. According to a support page, this can refer to AI-generated videos, among other things.

On why a disclaimer wasn’t embedded in the video itself, Wong said that while some marketing teams overuse AI elements to please their bosses, everyday users won’t care how an ad was made.

While that may be true to a great extent, especially for an ad like this one, things could get a little worrying when generative AI begins to replace human artists in ads and other forms of media. However, we’re not fully there yet, at least not right now.