It seems like giants in the AI business are in the middle of a tussle, after Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI, released its new Super Bowl commercials. Anthropic released four brand-new advertisements, in which it targeted ads in AI chatbots. Although there was no mention of any company exclusively in the commercials shared on X (Twitter) by Anthropic, these ads do come shortly after OpenAI announced that it will be testing ads in chatbot conversations, which makes it look like there might be some connection. Anthropic has also expressed that having ads in the chatbot goes against the company's vision. Even though the connection was not made obvious or explicitly named, OpenAI chief Altman responded to Anthropic's ads within a few hours, calling them dishonest and deceptive.
The commercials were shared on the X (Twitter) handle of Claude, with each video featuring a similar premise, where a person asks for help or some query, and while advice is being rendered, the professional quietly slips in an ad in the middle of the conversation. The video gives out a clear message: “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.” Another interesting thing is that all videos start with one specific word that appears in the beginning of each commercial, which are “Betrayal,” “Violation,” “Deception,” and “Treachery.” Now that is something many might have felt when OpenAI first introduced the idea of commercials.
OpenAI Fires Back
In a post on X, OpenAI opened fire and accused Anthropic of being dishonest and showing an ambiguous ad that's deceptive. Altman expressed that the way ads depict how commercials were going to get delivered is an incorrect projection, and it was not how ChatGPT would position its ads, and also added, “We are not stupid, and we know our users would reject that.”
Then came a round of allegations and accusations from the OpenAI chief, in which he targeted Anthropic by saying that it is an expensive product that serves the rich people. Altman further claimed that Anthropic wants to control how people use AI, pointing to restrictions that reportedly prevent OpenAI employees from using Claude Code as an example.
What Anthropic Believes When It Comes to Ads
All these ads came attached with a blog post, where Anthropic laid out in detail how the company feels about having ads in the chatbot. The post said, “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. ”.
Anthropic said placing general or targeted advertisements inside an AI chatbot would feel out of place and inappropriate, noting that users tend to share detailed context and personal information while interacting with Claude. The company added that this level of openness could make users more vulnerable to influence from the chatbot’s responses.