AI in Branding: Principles for Building Brand Trust

Every AI-generated output – text, images, video, voice, audio, and music – reflects our brand and may be seen by employees, customers, investors, and the public. These outputs must authentically represent our core values and mission: “Health for all, Hunger for none.” By adhering to clear principles and legal requirements, we can leverage AI to enhance communication impact while reinforcing the trust and integrity our brand stands for.

How to Ensure AI Outputs Are On-Brand: Our Principles

1. Human Oversight Required

AI-generated outputs must undergo human review and editing before use. All content must be reviewed to ensure alignment with company strategy, brand identity, and ethical standards and legal requirements. AI-generated content may not automatically qualify for copyright protection. If protection is required, human creators should modify or enhance the output to meet originality requirements.

2. Define the On-Brand Objective and Content

Clearly define the communication outcome and ensure it reinforces our position in trusted life-science innovation. Messaging and assets should support our mission and highlight meaningful impacts for patients, farmers, consumers, employees or investors.

3. Ensure Brand Consistency

Use AI-generated content that aligns with Bayer’s brand identity :

Visual: Photos, video, motion design, colors, graphic device, typography

Verbal: Brand tonality, corporate language, inclusive language, formality, and style

Sonic: Sonic logo and sonic DNA

Brand Personality: Visionary, passionate, and optimistic

4. Transparency, Accountability, and Disclosure

To maintain brand integrity, transparency in the use of AI is essential. Communications audiences can often discern AI-generated content, and authenticity is crucial to building trust.

Discover examples of how and where to disclose content in the section “Mastering AI in Branding: Use Cases”

AI must never be employed to:

• Present artificial content as real-world events.
• Mislead audiences regarding authenticity.
• Create fake media intended to deceive.

5. Ensure Legal and Ethical Compliance

To ensure that AI-generated content aligns with Bayer brand and maintains brand integrity and indemnity, it is essential to establish clear legal and ethical constraints. This includes the following key areas:

To ensure AI-generated content aligns with Bayer’s brand and maintains brand integrity and indemnity, clear legal and ethical constraints must be applied. This includes the following key areas:

Ethical responsibility:

AI must be used in ways that respect individuals, promote fairness, and prevent harm. Content generated through AI should:

• Avoid bias, stereotypes, and discriminatory representations.
• Support diverse and inclusive representation across markets.
• Avoid misleading narratives, manipulated media, and misinformation.
• Respect human dignity and societal well-being.

AI must never be used to create deceptive, harmful, or exploitative content.

Legal:

Comply with Laws and Regulations

AI-generated content must adhere to applicable laws, industry regulations, and Bayer’s Code of Conduct. Refer to the General Legal Overview on AI and consult legal experts as needed.

• Advertising and health claim regulations.
• Intellectual property and copyright law.
• Data protection regulations.
• Platform disclosure and transparency requirements for AI-generated content.

All content must be able to withstand scientific, regulatory, and public scrutiny.

Protect Personal Data and Confidential Information

Sensitive information must be safeguarded when using AI tools . Users must not enter or process:

• Personal data related to identifiable individuals (e.g., names, images, or voices).
• Confidential or restricted company information.
• Controlled or licensed data.

This is only permissible if explicitly approved for the specific AI tool. 

Compliance-related processes may require additional risk assessment and consultation with appropriate internal experts, such as Legal, Trademark Management, and Data Privacy.

Respect Intellectual Property and Likeness Rights

AI must respect the rights of creators, artists, and individuals. While using AI tools, we must recognize that we do not control or have visibility into the datasets used to train these models, many of which have faced accusations of improper use of intellectual property. 

Users must not:

• Enter, refer to, generate, or imitate real existing individuals, celebrities, or recognizable persons.
• Enter, refer to, or replicate the work or style of specific artists.
• Enter, refer to, or reproduce copyrighted works, brands, or logos without permission.
• Enter, refer to, or generate voices or likenesses of real existing people.

All generated content must respect intellectual property rights and ethical standards.

Maintain Documentation and Traceability

Prompts and AI-generated outputs should be documented where possible. Maintaining records helps ensure:

• Accountability and traceability.
• Transparency in AI usage.
• Continuous improvement of AI workflows.

AI tools that support prompt storage, documentation, and version tracking should be preferred.

6. Final On-Brand Validation

Before publication, confirm that content aligns with Bayer’s mission, strategy, and ethical, legal, and brand identity requirements. In addition, use the On-Brand Validation Checklist to support the review of AI-generated assets.

On-Brand Do’s and Don’ts

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