- Sam Altman publicly criticized Anthropic over Super Bowl ads that mocked ChatGPT’s new ad-supported tier
- Anthropic’s commercials depicted AI assistants interrupting serious conversations with product pitches
- The feud underscores rising tension over how AI companies monetize their platforms without losing user trust
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is dropping a penalty flag of his own on rival AI developer Anthropic’s set of Super Bowl commercials that appear to take square aim at ChatGPT’s new ad‑supported tier.
Anthropic’s “A Time and a Place” campaign ads depict AI assistants interrupting emotionally vulnerable moments with sudden commercial pitches for imaginary products. The joke is clearly supposed to be on OpenAI for ChatGPT’s advertising plans, while promising that Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude won’t follow suit.
Altman did not find the insinuation charming. In a string of posts on X (formerly Twitter), he accused Anthropic of “clearly dishonest” messaging. He suggested the company had crossed a line by implying ChatGPT would inject ads into advice or answers. Despite also saying he found the ads funny, he still accused Anthropic of being “authoritarian” and that it “serves an expensive product to rich people.”
It’s been a few weeks since OpenAI began testing ads in a lower‑cost version of ChatGPT. The company said these ads would appear at the bottom of responses, clearly labeled, and would not infiltrate the content of the chatbot’s answers.
Anthropic’s Super Bowl spots mock the idea of an unintrusive AI advertisement. One commercial shows a user seeking help communicating with his mother, only for his AI assistant, played by an actress in a therapist‑style chair, to pivot into a glowing endorsement of a fictional dating service called Golden Encounters. Another advertisement features an earnest fitness consultation that dissolves into a pitch for height‑boosting shoe insoles.
Anthropic plans to run the ads nationally during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast and will probably be an amusing moment that most people forget about at the next touchdown.
Altman, though, clearly will not move on quite as quickly. It’s not even his first social media feud this year. Elon Musk provoked similar ire when the xAI owner implied ChatGPT is too unsafe to use.
First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed.But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won’t do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic…February 4, 2026
AI ad battle
Underneath the public sniping is a heated debate over how to make AI chatbots profitable. OpenAI is exploring generating revenue from ChatGPT’s free and low-cost tiers. But Anthropic’s strategy seems more reliant on enterprise and corporate deals.
If it can position Claude as an alternative to the ad‑supported ChatGPT approach, it might entice users who fear advertising popping up in yet another facet of their digital lives to pick Claude over ChatGPT.
People may not follow AI research or model development, but they certainly understand ads and are tired of them. OpenAI and Anthropic know this, which is part of why Altman is responding so sharply.
The distinction between “ads below answers” and “ads inside answers” isn’t central to a 30‑second commercial, but it’s everything to Altman and his team as they try to both raise revenue and trust in ChatGPT. Anthropic’s ads may be exaggerated satire, but Altman’s reaction shows how sensitive OpenAI is to accusations that they are undermining that trust in pursuit of revenue. And plenty of the responses to Altman demonstrated exactly that.
Wrong response, Sam. The reason Anthropic’s satirical ads went viral is precisely because public trust in you and OpenAI has already hit rock bottom over the past few months. The people you should be responding to are your users. You should apologize to them for ignoring their…February 5, 2026
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