In the rapidly evolving world of digital advertising, artificial intelligence plays an increasingly pivotal role in optimising campaign performance and protecting marketing budgets from fraud. AppsFlyer, a global leader in mobile attribution and marketing analytics, harnesses AI to empower marketers with deep insights while maintaining transparency and privacy. We spoke with Inna Weiner, AVP Product at AppsFlyer, to understand how their AI-driven solutions tackle the challenges of bidding, attribution, and fraud detection amidst fierce competition from other AI-powered AdTech platforms.
How does AppsFlyer’s AI handle bidding and attribution models when competing directly against other AI-powered AdTech platforms?
AppsFlyer’s AI does not participate in ad auctions or place bids like a DSP. Instead, it equips marketers with the intelligence they need to win those auctions. We ingest and normalize cost and revenue data in real time, powering ROI models that guide bid strategies, budget allocation, and creative optimization.
Our AI-powered attribution engine brings together fragmented data from mobile, web, CTV, and other channels to deliver a unified source of truth.
Even in a privacy-first world, our models hold up. We integrate with SKAdNetwork, apply probabilistic modeling, and support incrementality testing to reveal the true value of campaigns, even when visibility is limited.
Have you encountered instances where rival AI systems manipulated or disrupted your clients’ ad performance data?
Absolutely. The “AI vs AI” battle is already happening. Fraudsters are using advanced AI tools to create fake clicks, fake installs, and even full transaction flows designed to confuse attribution models and siphon ad budgets.
AppsFlyer’s Protect360 provides a strong line of defense. It is an AI-driven, multi-layered protection system that blocks millions of fraudulent installs in real time and adapts continuously to new fraud patterns.
For example, fraudsters today can simulate entire user journeys. They can mimic a real person browsing the app store, installing an app, navigating through onboarding, and even making in-app purchases using stolen credentials or fake payment flows. These actions look legitimate, with natural gestures and valid-looking transaction IDs, but none of them are real. These synthetic interactions are built to manipulate attribution and distort performance metrics.
Protect360 goes beyond signature-based detection. It monitors behavioral signals, device-level patterns, and contextual anomalies at scale, helping marketers stay ahead of adversarial tactics.
How do you maintain transparency and accuracy in an environment of AI-driven digital ad competition?
Transparency and accuracy are built into our DNA. Our Core AI acts as a data refinery, cleansing, validating, deduplicating, and protecting billions of signals to give marketers a single trusted view of their performance. There are no hidden assumptions, no black boxes, and no blind spots.
AI copilots like Analytics Insights help marketers move from data to decisions. They highlight which creatives are performing, which cohorts are scaling, and where to focus next. In creative optimization, our AI does more than track surface-level results. It uncovers which formats, messages, and emotional cues actually drive outcomes.
We are equally committed to privacy and data control. Customer data never leaves the customer’s perimeter. With Privacy Cloud, Clean Room integrations, and full SKAN compliance, we give brands total ownership of their data. We do not broker data, and we do not monetize end-user information.
When it comes to Responsible AI, we take it seriously. Every model is explainable. Every recommendation is traceable. Trust is not a feature. It is the foundation of everything we do.
