Y’all, the AI rivalry just went from the boardroom to the living room—literally.
Anthropic dropped Two hilarious Super Bowl ads this week, and they didn't just take shots at ChatGPT, they went for the jugular. It’s the kind of high-stakes pettiness we live for, and let's just say Sam Altman is... not amused. 🤌
Here’s The Tea:
Back in January, OpenAI announced they’d start testing ads in ChatGPT for free users and their new $8/month "Go" subscribers.
The promise? Ads would stay at the bottom of the screen, be "clearly labeled." and won't interfere with ChatGPT’s responses. But Anthropic isn't having it. They’ll apparently drop a cool $8–10 million on Super Bowl slots just to show us a dystopian future where your AI assistant turns into a sleazy telemarketer.
The "Betrayal" Ads:
One ad shows a guy asking how to communicate better with his mom, and the “AI-therapist” suggests he join "Golden Encounters"—a fictitious site that apparently connects "sensitive cubs with roaring cougars." 🐯🤣
Another features a dude doing pull-ups, asks for tips and gets pitched height-boosting insoles for "short kings" instead. 👟
The killer Tagline: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude”.
Altman saw the ads and, well, he lost it. He admitted on X that he "laughed" at the commercials, but then followed up with a write up that can only be described as an overcaffeinated rant calling Anthropic "dishonest" and—get this—"authoritarian." Yes, "authoritarian"... over a Super Bowl commercial.
Altman’s logic? He claims Anthropic serves an "expensive product for rich people" while OpenAI is "bringing AI to the masses."
But in Reality: Both companies offer free tiers AND have almost identical pricing. (ChatGPT: $0, $8, $20, $200 / Claude: $0, $17, $100, $200). So yeah, the "AI for rich people " argument is looking a little shaky, Sam.
Meanwhile, Google is Quietly Winning
While Anthropic and OpenAI are throwing shade, Google’s Gemini is busy eating everyone's lunch.
The Growth: The Gemini app just surpassed 750 million monthly active users. Which is a massive 100M jump in just one quarter.
The Budget Move: Google just rolled out "Google AI Plus" for $7.99/month. It’s basically the budget-friendly, ad-free option that undercuts everyone else.
The Big Flex: Alphabet just surpassed $400 billion in annual revenue for the first time, largely thanks to their AI division. 💰
Oh and, Google hasn't announced any plans to add ads for now (though knowing Google's history with ads in literally everything, we're taking that "for now" seriously).
The Bottom Line:
OpenAI thinks ads are the only way to keep AI free for the world. And honestly, they’ve got an argument there. Running ChatGPT on a global scale is no cheap business.
Still… ads inside your AI conversations? That’s a pretty wild shift for the 800+ million weekly users who’ve been living the ad-free dream. Also that talk about the ads not interfering with how ChatGPT delivers its answers? Let's be real— we’ve all seen bots go a little off-script before. So the question is: Are we really confident the AI won’t feel a tiny urge to nudge you toward swiping your card mid-thought?
Guess we’ll have to try it to know for sure. But hey, Anthropic couldn't sit still, to them, ads ruin the "trust" between you and your bot.
But fun fact: Anthropic did leave themselves a tiny escape hatch in their blog post, saying: "Should we need to revisit this approach, we'll be transparent about our reasons for doing so"
So while Claude is ad-free today... forever is a long time in AI.
