Publicis France launches AI Anti-greenwashing, a self-assessment tool to tackle greenwashing

Publicis France today launches AI anti-greenwashing, a communications self-assessment tool to tackle greenwashing. Thought up by the Publicis France CSR team and designed and developed by Publicis Sapient France, the group’s digital business transformation arm, this tool follows on from Publicis France’s No Impact for Big Impact program, and underlines its commitment to harnessing AI to further improve the environmental and societal impact of all its communications activities. 

‘Today, everyone has an opinion on AI, and it is an integral part of our collective future. We find ourselves at a moment of truth, where it is up to us, together and in good conscience, to define, design, and drive the positive potential of AI at the heart of our society,’ says Agathe Bousquet, President of Publicis Groupe in France.

AI anti-greenwashing has two key objectives: 

• To save time in the verification process, prior to the ARPP (Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité)’s decision, by self-assessing projects. The tool relies on the 9 rules of the ARPP's Sustainable Development recommendation, judged to be among the most stringent in Europe*.
• Continuing to develop our teams' knowledge of existing and future climate standards, best practices and regulations.

Developed by Publicis France, this first of its kind tool is based on needs identified by employees, to accelerate the transformation of their areas of expertise and deliver responsible communications plans and projects with and for their clients.  

‘As it was being developed, AI anti-greenwashing came up against 3 simultaneous challenges. Firstly, generative AI is powerful but more unpredictable than traditional algorithms: for it to be reliable for professional use with nuanced rules and high stakes, we had to be vigilant in monitoring its performance. Secondly, the technological landscape is evolving at an unprecedented rate, so we have to rapidly create operational, high-performance tools that are also able to evolve. The final challenge is common to all the services we develop: offering users a high-quality, intuitive experience,’ explains Lise Malbernard, Managing Director of Publicis Sapient France.

*(ARPP was consulted on the tool)
Report ‘Advertising and the ecological transition’ June 2020 Thierry LIBAERT Géraud GUIBERT