IAB Tech Lab Launches Two Working Groups for AI and Privacy Sandbox

IAB Tech Lab, an international body that develops technical standards for digital advertising, recently announced the formation of two innovative working groups. These organizations will be crucial in determining how advertising and digital media develop in the future. They are the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Subcommittee and the Privacy Sandbox Task Force. These duo-functioning groups will enhance AI in digital media and steer Chrome Browser’s Privacy Sandbox changes.

Background

Since its launch in 2019, the Chrome Privacy Sandbox has been extremely active. But Google Chrome says third-party cookies must be deleted by Q2 2022. However, the due date was advanced. Chrome third-party cookies are expected to perish in the second half of 2024. As the finish line keeps fading from view, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to sustain their enthusiasm for post-cookie experimentation. But with the formation of the Privacy Sandbox Task Force, the IAB Tech Lab is on it. It will experiment with Chrome APIs and communicate its findings to the market. Below are some insights and goals that the AI and Privacy Sandbox working groups will look to fulfill.

Read More: Google’s Phasing Out of Third-Party Cookies: A Paradigm Shift in Digital Advertising

Privacy Sandbox Task Force

IAB Tech Lab established the Privacy Sandbox Task Force since the evolving Privacy Sandbox within Google’s Chrome browser represents a critical turning point for digital advertising. The specialist task force’s goal is to conduct a thorough technical and operational review of the upcoming Privacy Sandbox improvements and their implications for use cases in digital advertising.

The key objectives include:

Technical analysis

To comprehend the consequences for advertisers, publishers, and ad tech providers, the task force will explore the technical details of Google Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox enhancements. These will include the protected audience API and the Attribution Reporting API.

Operations Perspective

It will analyze operational changes that digital advertising stakeholders need to adjust to maintain consistency in the delivery, optimization, and measurement of digital ads.

Analysis of gaps

Using the Privacy Sandbox, it will analyze, comprehend, and document important advertising use cases that brands and publishers can benefit from. In addition, it will suggest improvements in order to fill any gaps.

Recommendations

To handle the changes the Chrome browser brings forth, it will provide practical advice and update current or propose new technological standards for the digital advertising ecosystem. Later this year, the Task Force will release its findings and suggestions for the industry.

Privacy Sandbox Task Force Members

All IAB Tech Lab members are invited to join the Privacy Sandbox Task Force. Moreover, participants from all international digital advertising stakeholders who have tested or studied the Privacy Sandbox proposals are encouraged to do so. In order to successfully navigate this enormous change in the advertising industry, collaborative engagement will be essential.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Subcommittee

The AI Subcommittee was established as a result of AI’s radical changes to the world of digital media. A small group of IAB Tech Lab Board members make up this subcommittee. It will focus on the fast-evolving AI technology and digital media landscape interface. The AI Subcommittee’s key objectives include:

Roadmap creation

Developing near-term, short-term, and long-term roadmap goals to address the effect of AI on the digital media ecosystem, with a preliminary focus on media companies.

Developing an ethical framework

By developing new technical frameworks and standards, it will address the ethical issues raised by the use of AI in the media. It will further ensure that user privacy protection, and  content reliability and transparency.

Media Trends Analysis using AI

Doing a thorough investigation of AI-driven media trends, including deep-fake technologies, virtual reality, generative AI, and content recommendation algorithms.

AI Subcommittee Members

The AI Subcommittee is open only to IAB Tech Lab Board Members. It brings together data scientists, publisher executives, cryptographers, and technology leaders from publishers, agencies, and big tech platforms to work together on defining an informed, moral, and exciting future for AI in digital media.

Here’s what they said

 Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab said,

Given their worldwide market share of approximately 65%, understanding the shifts brought about by Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox development is crucial. AI is not just a technological tool; it’s a force reshaping our media landscape. Its impact extends across content creation, distribution, consumption, consumer privacy, and monetization. The AI Subcommittee is poised to assume a vital role in comprehending and directing Tech Lab’s AI roadmap to manage this evolution.

About IAB Technology Laboratory

The IAB Technologies Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit organization founded in 2014. It collaborates with a member community on a global scale to create the fundamental standards and technologies necessary for the development of the digital media ecosystem’s growth and trust. Digital publishers, advertising technology companies, agencies, marketers, and other member organizations make up the IAB Tech Lab. Furthermore, it focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud, identity, data, and consumer privacy, ad experiences and measurement, and programmatic efficacy. Project Rearc, an endeavor for privacy-centric addressability, the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, the ads.txt anti-fraud specification, the Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, the VAST video specification, and other work are among its accomplishments.

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