Ahead of Super Bowl LX, Anthropic has dropped four commercials mocking ad integration in AI chatbots, targeting ChatGPT.
Sam Altman said, “We would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them”
Photo Credit: X/@Claude
Anthropic fired shots at OpenAI and ChatGPT on Wednesday with its new Super Bowl commercials. The Claude-maker dropped four different advertisements, with each targeting ads in AI chatbots. While no rival company or product was mentioned directly, the ChatGPT-maker recently announced that it is testing ads in the chatbot, making the connection obvious for viewers. Anthropic also said that ads in conversations with Claude are incompatible with the company's vision. Within hours, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to the ads, calling them deceptive and dishonest.
All of the four commercials were shared by the official handle of Claude on X (formerly known as Twitter). Each video has the same premise — a person asks a professional for help, and while offering advice, the professional randomly inserts an ad mid-conversation. The videos end with the message, “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.” Additionally, each commercial opens with a specific word flashing on the screen. These words are “Betrayal,” “Violation,” “Deception,” and “Treachery.”
The Super Bowl ads were accompanied by a blog post, where Anthropic further explained its stance on ads within its chatbot. “Claude will remain ad-free. Our users won't see “sponsored” links adjacent to their conversations with Claude; nor will Claude's responses be influenced by advertisers or include third-party product placements our users did not ask for,” the post stated.
Calling the placement of general or targeted ads within an AI chatbot incongruous and inappropriate, Anthropic explained that its users often share context and reveal a lot of personal information when interacting with Claude. This openness can also make them susceptible to influence from the responses shared by the chatbot, added the company.
Anthropic also highlighted that ads that influence an AI model's response can also make it difficult for users to trust its recommendations due to the potential of a commercial motive. “Users shouldn't have to second-guess whether an AI is genuinely helping them or subtly steering the conversation towards something monetisable,” it added.
In a post on X, Altman called Anthropic dishonest and said the company used doublespeak to show a deceptive ad. He said the representation of the commercials was not the way ChatGPT intends to show ads, adding, “We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.”
The OpenAI CEO also threw more serious allegations towards its AI rival and said Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people, and that it wants to control what people do with AI. Altman exemplified his accusation with the example that the company blocked OpenAI employees from using Claude Code.
Altman also took a jab at Anthropic's smaller user base and said, “More Texans use ChatGPT for free than total people use Claude in the US, so we have a differently-shaped problem than they do.” The CEO added that it is also running a Super Bowl ad, which focuses on how anyone can build anything using ChatGPT (and its coding-focused Codex).
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