Industry joins forces to fight bias in adtech systems

Top brands and agencies have made a commitment to combat unfairness in marketing campaigns, which in many cases is being caused by adtech systems, as IBM steps up its education and awareness drive on the impact of bias in the technology.

The initiative, announced at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022, brings together agencies, brands, and other leaders to generate awareness and take action. Committing organisations include IBM, Delta Air Lines, WPP, Mindshare, US trade body the 4A’s, IAB and the Ad Council.

The move follows a 2021 research initiative launched by IBM which confirmed that bias does exist in adtech. The research also showed that mitigating this bias was possible using AI tools and resources in marketing processes.

IBM insists that more industry participation and data collection is needed to better understand the potential impact of bias on these campaigns, but several industry leaders are demonstrating early activism by raising awareness and taking action via IBM’s Advertising Fairness Pledge.

IBM senior vice president of The Weather Company and Alliances Bob Lord said: “While the risk of bias in advertising is well known, by making this commitment, these organisations are among the first in the industry to take action.

“Together, we are agreeing to educate ourselves and our companies and ask other industry leaders to join us in helping to mitigate bias in advertising.”

As part of the process, IBM has released its free Advertising Toolkit for AI Fairness 360, an open-source solution deploying 75 fairness metrics and 13 algorithms to help identify and mitigate biases in discrete data sets. A playbook and sample code are also made available for ease of use.

It is hoped that organisations which use the toolkit will gain a better understanding of the presence and impact of bias on their ad campaigns, as well as the makeup of their audiences.

Bias is often unintentional, a result of human assumptions and judgments encoded into algorithms that can result in unfair targeting, exclusion of certain groups, and marketing campaign failures.

Organisations taking the pledge can contribute data to ongoing studies that seek to better explain the impact of bias.

According to Salesforce’s 2022 State of the Connected Customer survey, more than three-fifths (62%) of consumers reported they are concerned about bias in AI, up from just over half (54%) two years before, emphasising the imperative for brands and agencies to better understand its impacts.

As the advertising and marketing industry continues to face issues related to privacy and transparency, many organisations believe that tackling bias in adtech could be a next key area of focus for marketers.

Nearly $1trillion was spent on digital advertising globally in 2021, much of which flows through programmatic engines that segment and target specific audiences, sometimes missing large consumer groups in the process.

With increasing consumer demand for transparency in how their data is used, marketers must look for new ways to remain effective. Tapping into alternative privacy-forward data sources, such as weather data, can be effective predictors of behaviour that could also help rebuild trust with consumers, IBM claims.

WPP global CEO Mark Read said: “Used correctly, data can help brands personalise consumer engagement and identify the most relevant touchpoints. However, we know that bias can exist in algorithms or technology, and that’s why we’re helping our clients to evaluate how and when to use data in a meaningful way that will benefit the customer experience.

“Through WPP’s GroupM, we’ve developed the Data Ethics Compass to help clients navigate the challenges of using datasets, while IBM’s new Advertising Toolkit for AI Fairness 360 will help us to better understand the potential impact of bias. Consumers rightly expect brands to use their information in a fair way and for the industry to tackle data bias collectively, which can ultimately result in increased engagement and commercial outcomes.”