The question asked in the meeting is almost always the wrong one. It is not whether the audience will see that it was generated: it is whether you will be able to explain it in eight months' time.
Transparency is not cosmetic
The obligations to indicate that content is generated or altered, the way to do so and the cases concerned depend on the channel, the sector and the nature of the content.
They are checked against the applicable rules and, in case of doubt, with a lawyer, before going live. They change over time, which is one more reason to know precisely what you produced and when.
What the tool handles well
More than people admit, and it is worth using.
Hook variants, subtitles and their translation, dubbing a voice-over on product shots, neutral backgrounds, storyboards before a shoot. Those are production tasks, not proof tasks.
Handing them to a tool frees budget for what has to stay filmed.
What it cannot do
Testify.
A generated video has no verifiable context: you do not know where it was made, by whom, or whether the person exists. Yet that is exactly what somebody watching a recommendation before buying is looking for.
Nor can it say I bought it, I have been using it for two months, here is what disappointed me.
The two-language constraint
It changes the calculation.
A tool produces a second version very quickly, which is tempting. But a dubbed voice is heard, and in this country language is not a matter of comfort: it is a signal of seriousness and, depending on the province and the type of message, an obligation whose contours are checked before distribution.
The practical rule stays the same: dubbing for a voice-over on product shots, never for a speaking face.
The approval chain
In regulated sectors, it decides everything.
Generated content adds one more question at every approval stage, and therefore delay. Plan for it in the schedule, and give the legal team the register rather than a verbal explanation.
What is never generated
A testimonial, a person who does not exist giving an opinion, proof of use, or a face resembling somebody.
That internal rule is set once, written into the brief, and not discussed case by case. It spares you the one category of problem the register will not solve.
Where each option genuinely belongs
| The need | What suits it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A setting or a mood | Generated imagery | No real product to show |
| Proof that a product is used | The real creator | The gesture and the material are filmed |
| A face speaking for a brand | The real creator | A person stakes their word |
What must be disclosed to the viewer
The use of generated imagery, when it depicts a person or a scene presented as real. Obligations vary by platform and country, and are checked with the competent authority.
What costs more than a real video
Generated content that has to be redone. When the product appears distorted, the label unreadable or the hand six-fingered, the redo cancels the saving and pushes the campaign back a week.
The arrangement that works today
Film once, decline many times.
You buy from a real creator the usage shots, the speech and the proof, in both languages if necessary. You then use the tools for the variants, the formats and the subtitles, noting each time what was generated.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
