{"id":455595,"date":"2026-02-05T14:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455595\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:13:08","slug":"sam-altman-got-exceptionally-testy-over-claude-super-bowl-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455595\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Altman got exceptionally testy over Claude Super Bowl ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthropic\u2019s Super Bowl commercial, one of four ads the AI lab dropped on Wednesday<\/a>, begins with the word \u201cBETRAYAL\u201d splashed boldly across the screen. The camera pans to a man earnestly asking a chatbot (obviously intended to depict ChatGPT) for advice on how to talk to his mom.<\/p>\n

The bot, portrayed by a blonde woman, offers some classic bits of advice. Start by listening. Try a nature walk! And then twists into an ad for a fictitious (we hope!) cougar-dating site called Golden Encounters. Anthropic finishes the spot by saying that while ads are coming to AI, they won\u2019t be coming to its own chatbot, Claude.<\/p>\n

Another commercial<\/a> features a slight young man looking for advice on building a six pack. After offering his height, age, and weight, the bot serves him an ad for height-boosting insoles.<\/p>\n

The Anthropic commercials are cleverly aimed at OpenAI\u2019s users, after that company\u2019s recent announcement <\/a>that ads will be coming to ChatGPT\u2019s free tier. And they caused an immediate stir, spawning headlines that Anthropic \u201cmocks,\u201d<\/a> \u201cskewers,\u201d<\/a> and \u201cdunks on\u201d<\/a> OpenAI.<\/p>\n

They are funny enough that even Sam Altman admitted on X<\/a> that he laughed at them. But he clearly didn\u2019t really find them funny. They inspired him to write a novella-sized rant that devolved into calling his rival \u201cdishonest\u201d and \u201cauthoritarian.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed.<\/p>\n

But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won\u2019t do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Altman (@sama) February 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In that post, Altman explains that an ad-supported tier is intended to shoulder the burden of offering free ChatGPT to many of its millions of users. ChatGPT is still the most popular chatbot by a large margin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the OpenAI CEO insisted the ads were \u201cdishonest\u201d in implying that ChatGPT will twist a conversation to insert an ad (and possibly for an off-color product, to boot).\u201dWe would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them,\u201d Altman wrote in the social media post. \u201cWe are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 23, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Indeed, OpenAI has promised ads will be separate, labeled, and will never influence a chat. But the company has also said it is planning on making them conversation-specific \u2014 which is the central allegation of Anthropic\u2019s ads. As OpenAI explained on its blog,<\/a> \u201cWe plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there\u2019s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altman then went on to fling some equally questionable assertions at his rival. \u201cAnthropic serves an expensive product to rich people,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can\u2019t pay for subscriptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Claude has a free chat tier, too, with subscriptions at $0, $17, $100, and $200. ChatGPT\u2019s tiers are $0, $8, $20, and $200. One could argue the subscription tiers are fairly equivalent.<\/p>\n

Altman also alleged in his post that \u201cAnthropic wants to control what people do with AI.\u201d He argues it blocks usage of Claude Code from \u201ccompanies they don\u2019t like,\u201d like OpenAI, and said Anthropic tells people what they can and can\u2019t use AI for.<\/p>\n

True, Anthropic\u2019s whole marketing deal since day one has been \u201cresponsible AI.\u201d<\/a> The company was founded by two former OpenAI alums, after all<\/a>, who claimed they grew alarmed about AI safety when they worked there.<\/p>\n

Still, both chatbot companies have usage policies<\/a>, AI guardrails, and talk about AI safety.<\/a> And while OpenAI allows ChatGPT to be used for erotica<\/a> while Anthropic does not<\/a>, OpenAI, like Anthropic, has determined that some content should be blocked<\/a>, particularly in regards to mental health.<\/p>\n

Yet Altman took this Anthropic-tells-you-what-to-do argument to an extreme level when he accused Anthropic of being \u201cauthoritarian.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne authoritarian company won\u2019t get us there on their own, to say nothing of the other obvious risks. It is a dark path,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Using \u201cauthoritarian\u201d in a rant over a cheeky Super Bowl ad is misplaced, at best. It\u2019s particularly tactless when considering the current geopolitical environment in which protesters around the world<\/a> have been killed by agents of their own government. While business rivals have been duking it out in ads since the beginning of time, clearly Anthropic hit a nerve.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n