How To Create UGC Ads With AI (that feel real)

Let's address the elephant in the room - AI generated UGC ads are still not as good as the real thing.

However, generating AI ad creative does have its place, and this article is going to explore all options available for those who don't want to spend a fortune on real UGC.

With these ethical disclaimers out of the way, let's have a common-sense look at how you can actually use AI tools to generate UGC, and when this might be appropriate for your brand / agency.

Why Marketers Can't Ignore AI UGC (Even If They Should)

Even if you're a human creative purist (which I'm all for) there's just so many good reasons to try AI UGC as part of your creative arsenal, even if you don't even plan on using AI ads in a live environment.

I'll explain why below. 

1) Creative Testing at Unprecedented Scale

The best social marketers are the ones who test more than anyone else.

The problem is, testing 100 different UGC ad variations is incredibly expensive. If you're using a real creator, you need them to take multiple photos and film using different scripts, backgrounds, tones, product placements - You name it.

The beauty of using AI is that you can produce 100 different variations in a single afternoon at the press of a button. And of course, the AI avatar presenting the video isn't going to look or sound as polished as a real human creator, but for creative teams who need that visual feedback immediately without having to wait for an expensive creator to turn around a new concept, it's a pretty incredible tool to have.

👉 Example below - Create 100 different variations instantly and pick your favorite.

We've seen marketing teams increasingly use AI UGC as a purely brainstorming endeavour.

Imagine you have a cool idea for a slightly controversial UGC video creative - Instead of paying a creator $1000 only to then decide later the idea wasn't as good as you thought, you can literally spin up the advert in minutes using AI. 

This allows you to brainstorm at scale, and see at least a draft of how the advert might look before you put it into production with your roster of real human creators. 

2) End-to-End Funnel Coverage

Marketers are deploying AI UGC across every stage of the customer journey. If you have a 'gap' missing at a certain stage of the funnel, you can fallback on AI to fill that creative gap for you. 

• Top-funnel awareness: Casual, relatable avatars introducing novel product concepts
• Mid-funnel consideration: Detailed product demonstrations and comparison videos (real face often not required)
• Bottom-funnel conversion: Testimonial-style content addressing specific objections
• Post-purchase: How-to content and usage recommendations to reduce return

3) Multilingual Market Expansion

How often have you seen TV adverts clearly produced in a different country that miss the mark on their native audience?

With AI, you know actually have a low cost method of expanding creative to different countries.

We know a DTC beauty brand that simultaneously launched campaigns in 11 languages with culturally-appropriate avatars for each market. 

This is something that would have previously required coordinating with dozens of international creators previously.

4) Seasonal Content Velocity

Holiday, seasonal, and promotional content that once required planning weeks in advance can now be created reactively within hours of strategic decisions.

Even if you have your own real UGC creator, with their permission you can actually use AI to make it seem like a previous advert you created has just been freshly shot for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's day etc.

That's pretty amazing.

5) Static-to-Video Transformation

Marketing teams are converting static product listings into dynamic video content featuring AI avatars discussing key features. Yes, often times the video avatars still look a little weird and robotic, but you can often create AI UGC re-targeting adverts that focus on the product with minimal face showing. 

How To Create UGC Ads With AI

OK it's time to show you how you can actually create UGC AI ads that feel authentic.

👉 Below are the very best tools on the market right now to make really good UGC ads with AI avatars. 

1) Icon

Icon is a new product from Kennan Davison, a former Y Combinator founder, is pretty astonishing, and at the time of writing, we're calling it the #1 AI UGC tool on the market because of it's unique capabilities. 

2) Arcads

Arcads is one of the few tools in the AI ad space that actually gets how performance marketers work.

Yes, it’s technically a HeyGen wrapper, but its got a huge amount of benefits on top.It builds everything around what media buyers actually need: speed, scale, and flexibility. 

How it works - 

You drop in a script (whether you wrote it or used a custom GPT), pick from a bunch of UGC-style AI actors, preview a few reads, and then spin up variations in minutes. The actor tagging and preview flow is underrated—you can quickly find someone who matches your target audience vibe and reuse them across campaigns.

What’s great is Arcads doesn’t force you into a fully automated workflow. You can plug in manual edits, remix scenes in CapCut, green screen over your landing page, and blend in other clips. It plays nicely with whatever creative process you’re already using. It’s clearly built for teams who want to move fast but still care about quality.

Cost-wise, it's not super cheap - Starting at $110 per month for up to 10 videos.

If you’re already spending money on UGC, freelancers, or even just HeyGen credits, Arcads basically gives you a creative ops layer on top that saves hours of busywork. For most ad teams spending real money on Meta or TikTok, it pays for itself pretty quickly...especially when you’re testing dozens of creatives per week.

3) HeyGen

Not many people realize that HeyGen is the technology in the background that powers most of the other AI UGC tools on this list. 

So if you want to save money, just go straight to the source and use HeyGen yourself. You'll get more control over creativity, but the downside is of course this can take more time for you to play around and figure out.

The downside however is that it's not 100% purpose built for ads, it's intend for lots of uses. 

If you're looking for a lower cost, multi-purpose solution then definitely check out HeyGen. However, if you do want to go with a super purpose-built product for UGC ad creation only using AI, then there's some better options on the market.

Other Notable AI Tools For UGC Ads

Here's a few other reliable tools you might want to check out:

• ChatGPT - Honestly really strong at creating mockups now for static image ads in particular! 
• Billo – Great for sourcing real UGC creators quickly along with some AI features. Really good quality, but turnaround time can vary.
• MakeUGC – Lightweight tool for AI UGC video generation; affordable and super easy to test angles fast.
• Syllaby – Helps generate UGC scripts and social content ideas based on trends; decent for brainstorming hooks.
• QuickFrame by MNTN – UGC-style content production from a vetted creator network, more premium/enterprise focused.
• Pictory – Turns long-form content into short, punchy videos; not UGC-specific but good for repurposing webinars/interviews.
• AdCreative.ai – Focused on generating ad visuals and copy (not UGC), but pairs well with AI video workflows.
• Vidyo.ai – Not UGC-specific but helpful for auto-editing clips and creating short-form from longer videos.

Wrapping Up

The future really is now. 

Creative teams are already using these tools to get ahead, and there's a reason why huge Hollywood studios are already using AI to help them accelerate the production process - Because the technology is very good when used correctly.