How Amazon Ads is building responsible AI-powered tools to solve real advertiser problems

Always an industry for fast-paced innovation, the world of advertising has undergone a particularly rapid transformation in the last few years. Through new large language models and generative technology, AI has reshaped the advertising landscape, sparking excitement from brands of all sizes who want to use the latest techniques to reach customers. Whether it's instantly developing audio, video, and image creative or optimizing campaigns to make messaging more relevant to audiences, AI is reconstructing the ways that brands interact with customers.

To help advertisers understand all the practical AI-powered tools at their fingertips, we caught up with the man at the center of the AI marketing boom: Jay Richman, the Vice President for Creative Experiences at Amazon Ads.

From generating campaign-ready videos to creating compelling image assets, Amazon Ads is democratizing access to sophisticated advertising capabilities through intuitive AI tools. Richman shares insights into practical applications of AI-powered tools for businesses of all sizes, and his vision for the future of advertising technology, where creating high-quality creative at scale is no longer a barrier but an opportunity.

It all begins with creating tools that solve for advertiser problems and one clear-eyed vision: AI should help advertisers tell better stories with less effort—and deliver better outcomes.

Jay Richman: Over the past few months, we’ve made real progress in getting AI tools into the hands of advertisers—not as a headline, but as something genuinely useful. Our focus is on practical, performance-driven tools that simplify the creative process and help advertisers move faster.

Today, advertisers can use generative AI to create campaign-ready video, audio, and image assets in just a few clicks. Our systems understand the advertiser’s objective, product details, and the context in which the ad will appear—then generate content tailored to that environment. Whether it’s a photorealistic lifestyle image, a multi-scene video featuring humans and pets, or an ad optimized for a specific placement, we’re helping advertisers scale high-quality creative with minimal friction.

Looking ahead, our vision is straightforward: AI should help advertisers tell better stories with less effort—and deliver better outcomes. That means building systems that not only generate content but also adapt it dynamically based on audience, context, and performance, all while keeping the brand’s identity and voice at the core.

The Video Generator tool from Amazon Ads allows advertisers to create realistic high motion shots of their products in use and transform still images to movement with a single click.

Richman: There’s no shortage of AI hype right now, but we stay grounded in the real problems advertisers are facing. For many, the biggest barrier isn’t access to inventory or audiences—it’s the ability to produce high-quality creative quickly, at scale, and tailored to different environments. That’s where our AI-powered tools are already making an impact.

We’re solving three core challenges: first, reducing the time and cost it takes to produce effective ad content; second, helping advertisers unlock video, audio, and image formats they may not have had the resources to pursue; and third, making it easier to test, learn, and iterate creative based on performance.

What sets our approach apart is that we’re not asking advertisers to learn new workflows or tools. We’re building AI into the places they already work—within the ads console and Amazon DSP—so they can create, launch, and optimize content in minutes, not weeks. And because our systems are tuned to Amazon’s unique surfaces and signals, the output is more than just generative—it’s performance-aware.

At the end of the day, we’re focused on making creative a growth lever, not a bottleneck.

Richman: It’s a critical question. At Amazon Ads, we believe that building responsibly is just as important as building fast—especially when it comes to AI. Innovation and integrity have to go hand in hand.

First, we’ve built clear guardrails into our systems from the start. That includes brand safety controls, content review pipelines, and mechanisms that ensure generated content aligns with advertiser intent, platform policies, and broader societal standards.

Second, we’re intentional about where we apply AI. We focus on use cases where automation removes friction without removing human judgment—things like content generation, adaptation, and optimization. For example, our initial creative-building AI innovations, like Image Generator and Video Generator, simplify the advertiser experience for small businesses selling on Amazon.com, enabling them to advertise in a way that wasn’t possible before.

And finally, we take feedback seriously. As we scale these tools, we’re in close conversation with advertisers, creatives, and industry groups to ensure what we build is not only effective but trusted.

Responsible AI is an ongoing commitment. It’s built into how we think, how we ship, and how we hold ourselves accountable as we grow.

Richman: That’s a really common sentiment, and we take it seriously. We know AI can feel intimidating—especially for smaller brands without dedicated creative teams or technical resources. That’s why we’re focused on building tools that are intuitive, accessible, and built directly into the workflows advertisers already use.

You don’t need to understand prompts, models, or editing software to use what we’ve built. If you know your product and your audience, that’s enough. We’ve designed the experience so that with just a few inputs—like a product image or short description—you can generate high-quality video, image, or audio assets in minutes. No new tools to learn, no complicated setup.

For brands just getting started, I’d suggest starting small. Use the tools to test creative variations, explore new formats like video, or scale into placements that were previously out of reach. Think of AI not as a replacement for your brand’s creative voice, but as a way to extend it—faster, more efficiently, and with more consistency.

And because these tools are designed to learn and improve, your feedback matters. The more we understand how brands use them, the better we can make the experience—no matter your size or level of experience with AI.

Richman: Absolutely, there has been so much going on in this space, it’s been exciting to see how quickly it’s changing—there are cool new use cases I’m seeing every day. Just recently, we had this great moment where we used one of our experimental AI tools to create a video. We showed it to an advertiser just days before Father's Day, not expecting much beyond feedback, but they were so impressed that they decided to run it right away for the holiday. It's really energizing to see brands embrace these AI tools with such enthusiasm and agility. Another fun example I saw recently was for a brand we work with that sells board books for babies. They had never tried video advertising because babies aren’t the best models, as you might understand. They’re cute, but hard to pose, as anyone with kids can attest. We used one of our tools to create videos for them, and they were so excited to start video advertising because they hadn’t been able to before.

Richman: We’re seeing a real shift in AI video—specifically helping small- and medium-sized businesses to advertise in a way that was previously impossible to them. What used to take significant spend and weeks of production can now be done in minutes, with tools that generate multi-scene, product-specific videos complete with text overlays, music, and even synthetic humans or pets. That alone is a big unlock for advertisers looking to move faster and do more with less.

For brands, the key is to get started. Start small. Try generating a few video assets with AI. Test and learn. What you’ll find is that AI can take a lot of the heavy lifting off your team—so they can spend more time on the message, the story, the insight. That’s where the magic still lives, and that’s where humans stay essential.

Richman: Agentic AI is definitely picking up momentum, and for good reason. We’re moving from tools that assist to systems that can actually plan, adapt, and optimize on their own. That shift opens up a lot of potential—especially in creative, where the bottlenecks are real.

This is technology that can help transform advertising for small- and medium-sized businesses. We see so much opportunity here to turn what used to be time- and resource-intensive into something adaptive, scalable, and always learning. We’re excited for what’s next with agentic AI and to continue innovating on behalf of our customers.

Richman: Here’s the advice I would give to Amazon sellers: Start simple and build from there. Start with Creative Studio: It's a great entry point for exploring creative ad building tools, and lets you quickly create and test different ad variations without needing a design team behind you. You can generate multiple versions of your creative, see what works, and learn as you go.

Just remember: AI is here to help, not take over. These tools work best when you combine them with what you already know about your brand and customers. Think of AI as a tool in your toolbox, rather than a replacement for human insight. When you blend AI capabilities with your expertise, that's when you'll see real improvements in your advertising performance—from better efficiency to stronger results across the platform.

The key is to just get started. The tools are there, they're easy to use, and they can make a real difference in how you reach and connect with customers.