In the final analysis: Anthropic had a funny moment with its commercial, but its overall message was fractured. Yes, AI and chatbots can go wrong in all the ways its commercial describes, but it didn’t close the argument for how Claude could be better.
OpenAI’s commercial does set a positive path forward for AI, depicting the technology as a gateway for all people to “build things.” Its Codex platform seems a little in the weeds for the masses to grasp right away, but OpenAI says a million people already use it for coding projects, and it could be more accessible than Claude for many consumers.
The Super Bowl commercial is not the only element to the campaign. There are three more spots that show different awkward scenarios of people using chatbots. In one, titled “How Do I Communicate Better With My Mom,” a son presses a chatbot for advice only to be served an ad for a “cougar” dating site. All the spots have the same tagline: "Ads are coming to AI. But Not to Claude.” And they all end with the Dr. Dre track, “What’s the Difference (Between Me and You).”
ChatGPT had to play defense, and its CEO Sam Altman and CMO Kate Rouch posted public rebukes of Anthropic. Their parries were sharp, claiming Anthropic was being elitist with its message; that ads would bring AI to the masses for free. Altman also claimed that Anthropic’s ad was dishonest, and that ads would never influence the chatbot.
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Here’s the playbook: Ground and pound. Anthropic's commercial, titled “Can I Get a Six-Pack Quickly?,” depicts the potential dark side of AI assistants, especially if the advice is skewed by paid advertising, which ChatGPT plans to introduce into parts of its service.
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Anthropic
OpenAI kept its commercial under wraps until it debuted, but it released a series of spots that were part of its overall marketing push. These showed everyday small business owners using ChatGPT to run their operations. In the Super Bowl spot, OpenAI promoted Codex, a coding platform that simplifies app and web development. Coding has been considered Claude’s specialty, and OpenAI wants to change that.
Even Altman acknowledged Anthropic’s commercials are funny. However, some people noticed the campaign bashes the tech, which might not be the best tone for an AI company. Also, it hardly mentions Claude, the chatbot that’s presumably better. Marketing platform System1 also tested the commercial with audiences, which gave it 1 star for not setting a positive vibe, Andrew Tindall, marketing partner lead at System1, told Ad Age.
Its commercial was filled with easter eggs, including a nod to Isaac Asimov, the father of AI ethics. While the main product advertised, Codex, could elude the masses, the main theme was one of pushing widespread adoption. OpenAI landed on that same message when it decided on ads in AI—that’s the way to make some of these services free to use.
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Score: Given Anthropic’s trick play to start the game, it leads after the first quarter.
Score: OpenAI is coming back and has made a more positive argument for AI than Claude so far.
Score: Anthropic’s early lead eroded, and it’s tied going into the fourth.
Score: The final result will be determined by voters.
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