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TechRadar
TechRadar
Craig Hale

Meta is using AI to build the next generation of online ads

Colleagues collaborating on ad development

Meta has unveiled a swathe of AI-powered tools for advertisers to create more effective ads across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, along with a handful of other features for ad developers.

The announcement sees the introduction of its AI Sandbox, which serves as a testing playground for the latest generative AI solutions to ad-making. 

Also forming part of the revision to ad tools is the addition of features to the existing Meta Advantage suite designed to help creators and vendors automate their ads.

Meta AI ads

The AI Sandbox, according to Meta, is an opportunity for the company to understand what advertisers want, and to offer them a much simpler and quicker way of getting it done.

At launch, it includes an AI writer designed to enable text variation, much like what has been seen with Google’s generative AI assistants that are rolling out across Docs and Gmail at the moment. The tool offers to rewrite ads to help sellers get the message’s emphasis right.

Also being tested in AI Sandbox is a pair of image-focused tools: background image creation from text prompts, and a size adjustment tool to help make ads fit different aspect ratios more clearly. The latter is designed specifically to help advertisers run the same ad across posts, stories, reels, and so on.

While AI Sandbox has already launched, Meta says it’s working with “a small group” of testers ahead of a wider rollout in July. The company also expects to add more features to the sandbox in the following months.

Other ad updates include the ability to include videos in catalog ads (which were previously limited to still images), an option for migrating manual campaigns to Advantage+ shopping, performance comparisons for manual campaigns and their Advantage+ counterparts, and better audience optimization.

Meta isn’t the only company playing with artificial intelligence in advertising: Google is reportedly working on similar generative AI tools for ads on its platforms.

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