[disclosure]
Rendered, not recorded
AI-produced imagery needs a disclosure convention that a consumer can read in one pass. We wrote one, we use it on our own work, and we released it for anyone to adopt. No license, no permission, no fee.
The standard
Featuring digital talent. No likeness of any real person.
What it means
The first line tells the viewer how the image was made. The second tells them what was not taken to make it: no real person’s face, body, or performance was used or imitated. Together they answer the two questions a consumer actually has about synthetic imagery, in eleven words.
How to use it
Place both lines on or adjacent to any published visual featuring digital talent. Advertising, social, packaging, editorial. Adapt the typography to your brand; keep the language intact. Where your jurisdiction requires specific synthetic-performer disclosure, this standard supplements the legal requirement and does not replace it. Confirm compliance with your own counsel.
The record behind the label
The label tells a viewer that what they are looking at was rendered. It does not tell a brand’s team which elements were rendered, with what, or what was recorded alongside them. That is a document, not a label, so we specified one.
A production manifest is a single signed record issued with a delivery. It names every file by fingerprint and declares, element by element, what was recorded in camera and what was rendered, with which tools, and how the two were composited. It ships in the delivery folder alongside the assets. The format is open and unowned, the same as this standard. Any studio can implement it, publish its own signing key on its own domain, and issue manifests under its own name. The specification is published in full.
Why we released it open
A disclosure standard only works if it is recognized, and recognition requires adoption beyond one studio. We would rather see these eleven words become furniture across the industry than hold them as a trademark nobody else can print. Use them.
About Ford Media Lab
Ford Media Lab is a Miami-based visual production studio for premium spirits, wine, luxury, and CPG brands, founded in 2016. We shoot real product plates in the studio and extend them through AI production into full campaigns, with disclosure built into the deliverable.
Questions about the standard or its use: hello@fordmedialab.com.