South Korea Tells AI Advertisers: Prove Claims Before Promotion

Evidence must come before the campaign

South Korea is tightening scrutiny of advertising that touts artificial intelligence, with revised substantiation rules taking effect on September 3. The Korea Fair Trade Commission has explicitly added claims involving new technologies such as AI to the representations most likely to trigger a demand for evidence.asiae +1 A separate antitrust report described the measure as a new government requirement for businesses promoting AI-related performance claims.mlex

The change is not a blanket pre-approval system for every AI advertisement. Businesses must instead possess reasonable, objective grounds before making factual claims and, when the commission requests proof, generally submit it within 15 days. The regulator cited language such as “safer with AI technology” as the kind of claim that could face scrutiny.asiae +1

Delay becomes a riskier strategy

The revised notice narrows the circumstances in which a company may receive extra time. Qualifying disruptions include natural disasters, fires, mergers and acquisitions, rehabilitation or bankruptcy proceedings, and authorities seizing accounting records; once the disruption ends, the extension is capped at 15 days rather than 30.asiae +1

If a company misses the deadline and keeps running the advertisement, the commission can order it suspended. Failure to provide documents or obey a suspension order can bring a penalty of up to 100 million won, while a new self-assessment checklist asks advertisers to examine the independence of testing bodies, accreditation of certifiers and academic reliability of research before launching a campaign.asiae

The notice also reaches beyond AI. Claims about concentration or memory improvement, ingredients described as harmless, down-to-feather ratios and superlatives such as being No. 1 in academic improvement are among the examples identified for possible verification requests.asiae +1

A targeted rule within a wider regulatory push

For marketers, the practical consequence is a higher documentation burden at the product-launch stage. Test methods, certification records and research supporting a measurable benefit will need to be campaign inputs rather than material assembled only after a regulator calls. South Korea’s broader consumer regime already prohibits false or exaggerated advertising and gives the commission authority to impose corrective measures.iclg

The move also sits beside the country’s AI Basic Act, which took effect in January 2026 and created disclosure and risk-management duties for parts of the industry, though its rollout has drawn criticism from both startups and civil-society groups.stimson Separately, a proposed amendment would strengthen the Korea Consumer Agency’s power to demand business records, another sign that document production is becoming central to consumer enforcement.mbiz

The immediate compliance question is therefore narrower than whether an advertisement uses the letters “AI.” It is whether the ad promises a specific advantage—and whether the company can promptly produce credible evidence that the advantage is real.