Sam Altman Slams Anthropic Super Bowl Ads, Which Take Jabs at OpenAI’s Advertising Plans, as ‘Clearly Dishonest’

Anthropic has launched a series of four Super Bowl ads that criticize rival OpenAI's plans to incorporate advertising into its AI chatbot, ChatGPT. The ads feature the tagline, “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” referring to Anthropic's chatbot, Claude. In response, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, condemned the ads as “clearly dishonest” and characterized them as “on brand” for Anthropic, which he accused of “doublespeak.” He stated that OpenAI would never run ads in the manner depicted by Anthropic, emphasizing that the company understands its users would reject such an approach. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, has committed to keeping Claude ad-free, contrasting with OpenAI's confirmed plans for advertising in ChatGPT. In a blog post, Anthropic expressed its intention for Claude to prioritize user interests, stating that users will not encounter “sponsored” links or have their interactions influenced by advertisers. The ads aim to highlight this distinction, although they do not mention OpenAI or ChatGPT by name.