AI commercial: what it is, how it is made, and when to commission one

An AI commercial is a brand or product commercial made fully or partly with generative AI. It still needs a concept, a script, a storyboard, an edit, and a decision about what is generated, what is filmed, and what is real product footage, plus a clear plan for where it will run and what must be disclosed.

This note is about that film. It is not a catalogue of ad types, and it is not a production calendar. AI video ads covers the kinds of AI video ads and the disclosure questions that sit on them. AI video production covers stages and what current tools can and cannot generate in one clip. Use those when you are inside a format or a schedule. Use this page when you are deciding whether a commercial is the right object, and how to brief one.

The films are made by vetted partner studios. The team on this site runs the launch on X. There is no in house studio. A brief is how a studio gets matched.

What an AI commercial is

An AI commercial is still a commercial: a short film that asks a viewer to remember a brand or a product benefit. Generative tools change how some pictures and sound are made. They do not remove the claim, the structure, or the placement.

“Fully” means the pictures, and sometimes the voice, are generated. “Partly” means those shots sit next to filmed material or a recording of the real product. A screen recording with AI captions is usually a product demo, not a commercial. A viewer who came to see the product work should see the product. The claim has to be something the product can stand behind. A claim the product cannot perform, shown with generated footage that looks like the product, is the failure mode. Cut it before the script.

How one gets made

The sequence is ordinary production, with one extra decision about what the model is allowed to invent.

1. Concept and script. One sentence the viewer should remember, then the words and the order of shots. The startup launch video script template is a useful shape. A commercial script is often shorter.
2. Storyboard the split. Mark what is generated (mood, metaphor, a place you cannot film), what is filmed (a real person doing something they actually did, or an obvious fiction), and what is real product footage on a task you can repeat. Do not replace the product with a generated interface.
3. Edit, voice, and music. Assembly, captions, and one cut per placement. Use a voice and music the brand is allowed to use. Generated voice and music raise the disclosure and rights questions below.
4. Review. Does the claim match the product? Could a realistic generated scene be mistaken for a real event or a real customer? If yes, change the shot or disclose it where the platform requires disclosure.

The production note goes deeper on tools and time. The split above is what a commercial brief cannot skip.

Where it runs, and the format rules

A commercial is cut for a placement. The same master will not satisfy every rule. The figures below are from the platform pages opened for this note. They change, so treat them as the rules on those pages, not as a local standard.

X

When the film runs as an X video ad, X’s creative ad specifications (archived September 27, 2026) say video ads use MP4 or MOV. Length of 15 seconds or less is recommended, and up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds is supported. Captions or text overlays are strongly recommended. For a standalone video ad, 1920 by 1080 is the recommended size for 16:9 and 1200 by 1200 for a square film. Supported shapes include 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, and 1.91:1. Videos under 60 seconds loop.

Organic video on X is a different surface from an ad. Length and export for an organic launch film are covered in the note on launch video length, format and specs for X. Do not assume the ad file limits are the organic limits.

YouTube and connected TV

A commercial that runs on YouTube has to exist as a YouTube video. Google’s page on non skippable in stream ads says the video must be public or unlisted. It describes three durations: bumper ads up to 6 seconds, standard non skippable ads from 7 to 15 seconds, and a 30 second non skippable format for connected TV from 16 to 30 seconds. It says 30 second video assets must be horizontal, and that square or vertical assets will not be able to run in that format. Recommended resolution on that page is 1080p, including 1920 by 1080 for a horizontal film.

Google’s page on YouTube TV ad formats lists non skippable lengths that can serve there: 6 seconds or shorter, 15 seconds or shorter, 30 seconds, and 60 seconds. A 30 or 60 second ad must match that length or sit within 1 second of it, or it will not serve. Skippable ads on that page can be skipped after 5 seconds, with no minimum or maximum length stated, and they are not available on a YouTube TV only lineup. Eligibility does not guarantee serving, and ads go through review. A television cut should be horizontal 16:9 at one of those lengths, with words readable across a room. A vertical cut is a separate export for a phone.

Rights, licensing, and disclosure

Three different questions get bundled into “can we use this”. Separate them.

Copyright in the ingredients. YouTube’s copyright help page says copyright generally protects human creations. Options for using someone else’s work include permission, a Creative Commons license, a copyright exception, or, for music, the YouTube Audio Library or Creator Music. None of those guarantee you will avoid a claim. The page says copyright in AI generated work is complex, evolving, and different by country, and that YouTube does not decide ownership. Do not drop a song, a clip, or a likeness into the film because a model produced something that resembles it. This note is not legal advice.

Disclosure of realistic generation. YouTube’s page on disclosing GenAI content says creators must disclose AI generated or altered content that seems realistic. That includes making a real person appear to say or do something they did not do, altering footage of a real event or place, generating a realistic scene that did not occur, and music that is the main focus of the video. The disclosure is the AI use setting in YouTube Studio. The page says non realistic scenes, minor aesthetic edits, a script, captions, and cloning one’s own voice for a voiceover do not need that disclosure. Consistently failing to disclose when required can lead to a label, removal, or suspension from the YouTube Partner Program.

Misleading media on X. X’s authenticity policy (archived October 14, 2026) does not allow misleading synthetic or manipulated media that can cause widespread confusion on public issues, harm public safety, or cause serious harm. The examples include media of a real person that has been fabricated or simulated, especially with AI. The page allows sharing manipulated media in non deceptive ways. A stylized brand film that is obviously a film is a different case from a synthetic clip presented as a real customer or a real event. If you are unsure which one you made, do not run it.

A generated voice that pretends to be a real person who did not speak is both a disclosure problem and a rights problem. Music you cannot trace to a license does not become safe because a model made the file.

Commercial, demo, or launch video

Choose the object from the job.

Job	Make this	Why
A brand message that has to run as an ad on YouTube, connected TV, or X	An AI commercial, with a cut for each placement	The format rules and the claim are the point
Show the product doing one real task	A product demo	Viewers need the real interface, not a generated one
Announce the product on X and give people a reason to try it	A launch video	The post, the page, and the film should share one sentence

An AI product often needs the product demo or the launch video before it needs a commercial. If the product is the proof, keep real product footage in the film even when the opener is generated. A metaphor is the right picture only when the job is brand memory, not a trial.

How to brief a studio

A brief a partner studio can use is specific and short. Include:

• The one sentence the film must land, and who it is for.
• The placements: organic X, an X ad, YouTube, connected TV, or a combination, so the lengths and the horizontal cut are known up front.
• The split you want: what may be generated, what must be filmed, and which shots must be the real product.
• The claims that are allowed and the claims that are not.
• Whether any real person is depicted, and whether any scene is meant to look like a real event.
• What you already have: product recordings, a logo, a voice you are allowed to use, music you are allowed to use.
• Who will approve the cut, and what “approved” means: the claim, the disclosure, and the words on screen.

Send that as a brief. It reaches the launch team, who match it to a vetted partner studio. The studio cuts the film. The launch plan says which claim is allowed on screen and where the film will run. Bring the sentence and the placements. The rest of the production can be planned from those two lines.

Questions