Anthropic Superbowl Ads Make Fun of OpenAI; Sam Altman continues the Rant
We have seen a lot of competition between companies in products across the gamut. Mac and Windows have worked for a long time. Then it was Pepsi and Coca-Cola, Burger King and McDonald’s, BMW and Mercedes, and the list goes on. But it is the age of AI, and it was only a matter of time before the competition spilled over into the AI space. And lo and behold, Anthropic has fired back at OpenAI for its recent policy change to show ads to its users. And the whole debate has OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, furious.
The back-and-forth started with ads, ads, and now it’s sparked an online debate about who’s right. Is it Anthropic and its product Claude, which promises not to show ads to users, or is it the industry’s OpenAI and its product ChatGPT, which doesn’t want Anthropic dominating the business model of others? Read on, and decide for yourself.
Anthropic vs OpenAI: What Happened?
On Wednesday, Anthropic came out with a set of 4 comic ads as part of the new “Time and Place” campaign. Ads highlight the use of ads in user interactions with AI. The ads, titled “Betrayal,” “Deception,” “Breach,” and “Deception” are comedy takes on ads linked to real-life AI conversations about relationships, fitness, learning, and professional growth. Two of these commercials will air before and during Super Bowl 60, scheduled for February 8.
Check out Claude’s ads below
The internet has had a field day since the introduction of these ads. Not because they are very funny, which they are. The truth is that this campaign comes just a week after OpenAI’s announcement that it will begin beta testing for its free-tier users, as well as those on the ChatGPT Go plan. So, apparently, the ads are a jibe at OpenAI’s updated ad policy, and set Claude as a platform that “will never display ads.”
Claude’s “Anti-Black-Box AI” stance.
During that period of ads, Claude came out with an entire blog explaining the “no advertising policy” in detail. Titled “Claude is a space for thinking,” the blog makes Claude’s position clear – advertising changes motivations. It means that when ads enter the picture, the system is no longer optimized to serve users only. Instead, it risks prioritizing making money on any topic.
Anthropic features this as a design and ethical choice, not a pricing one.
In a blog post, Anthropic says AI conversations are very different from social media feeds or search results. When users interact with Claude, they often think aloud, ask vulnerable questions, learn new skills, or ponder complex personal and professional issues. Placing ads in that space, according to Anthropic, violates trust and disrupts understanding.
So, when comic commercials arrived on the scene, they weren’t just one joke. It was a well-aimed shot by Anthropic at the AI-giant that is OpenAI, saying – that is not the direction we (the AI space as a whole) are headed.
All good points, with good humor, but one person didn’t take it too well.
Sam Altman goes on Rant
Well, you can’t say anything to a child and not expect the father to step up. With Anthropic digging into the brainchild of Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO had a poignant response to share. There’s just one thing he can’t deny –
“the ads were funny”
But that’s where the appreciation ended. Altman went on to call the campaign “blatantly dishonest,” arguing that Anthropic intentionally misrepresented how ads would appear within ChatGPT.
According to Altman, OpenAI has a clear internal rule: ads will never interfere or control user conversations in the way Claude’s campaign revealed. So that means, Anthropic was criticizing a hypothetical situation that doesn’t exist.
Altman then shifted the debate from ads to access. He pointed out that OpenAI’s biggest challenge is scale, not monetization. According to him, “more people in Texas alone use ChatGPT for free than the total number of Claude users in the entire US.” From OpenAI’s point of view, ads are a way to keep AI accessible to the billions who can’t afford a subscription, while still offering an ad-free experience to paying users.
His real attack, however, begins late in the tweet, where he breaks down Anthropic’s broader philosophy. Altman calls the company a “humanitarian,” seeking to “control what people do with AI,” who gets access, and what companies are allowed to build on top of it.
Altman then concludes by outlining OpenAI’s future direction. He promises wide access, falling prices, and an ecosystem built around builders instead of gatekeepers.
It’s no longer a joke. These are straight, angry guns.
The big picture of AI
If I’m going to weigh in my two cents here, Anthropic has raised a valid concern here. BUT (and this is a big one here) it’s nothing we haven’t experienced before. After all, the content you consume all day long across your social media feeds is now shamelessly monetized. With AI showing ads now, naturally expect the level of personalization and subtlety of ad plugins to be much more subtle and targeted. Although Anthropic states that these are unique situations, it fails to reflect the reality of the world we live in – ads are everywhere – not just social media, but websites, videos, games, and even professional tools that we use for free.
That said, its ads were a fun dig at raising a (if not more) serious problem that will plague the AI world in the future. Sam Altman, with his shocking response, seemed to take it to the next level, directly highlighting (not just questioning) one of the goals and practices of his most notable opponents. Now, who wins in this Anthropic vs OpenAI beef for transparent AI and ethics, only time will tell. For now, just watch Claude ads and enjoy the new era of AI. Because even Sam Altman couldn’t ignore it.
Sign in to continue reading and enjoy content curated by experts.
