{"id":809574,"date":"2026-08-11T02:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809574\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:10:15","slug":"fake-ai-ads-in-the-west-4th-street-subway-station-unite-commuters-in-hatred-of-ai-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809574\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake AI ads in the West 4th Street subway station unite commuters in hatred of AI ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June, an Instagram reel<\/a> of fake tech advertisements being put up on Subway station walls went viral, gathering 5 million views and more than 250,000 likes. The faux ads were made by Harris Alterman<\/a> and Dave Ross<\/a>, two comedians whose usual content caters to the meta-ironic and absurdist appetites of the internet.<\/p>\n

One ad read, \u201cWhat if forks were spoons?\u201d by the fake company, \u201ccutlery.ai.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another said, \u201c1 + 1 = _____. Dennis can tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And another, \u201cThinking just got a big upgrade\u201d from \u201cthoughts.com.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the products being made-up, if you\u2019ve spent time in the subway system of New York City, these slogans may have a familiar ring to them. They follow a loose formula of combining corporate jargon and snappy sentences to create the proverbial nonsense seen in real tech ads. For Alterman and Ross, these ad campaigns seemed ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\u201cRiding the subway, all I would see were AI ads that made me confused and angry,\u201d Alterman said. \u201cI wanted to know if other people felt the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two created 10 nonexistent tech companies advertising enigmatic products, crafted ads and printed them onto vinyl banners that they put up in subways. Ross said it only took the pair 30 minutes to compose the parody ads with their vapid marketing-speech and hollow commentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these companies have successfully gotten this stuff into our brains,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n

In the first quarter of 2026, tech companies made up 15% of the ads in New York City subways and buses<\/a>, according to Outfront Media, which owns and sells advertising space for the MTA. Of that percentage, tech ads on the subway are up by 50% this year<\/a> from a year ago according to Semafor. While Alterman and Ross removed the fake ads immediately after the video was filmed, the popularity of their post proved to them that many shared their annoyance towards these ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are noticing the absurdity of it, and it brings us together,\u201d Alterman said.<\/p>\n

Nearly two months after their video was released online, the comedians were offered an opportunity to showcase the fake ads at W4 Newstand<\/a>, a new initiative by artist All Mullen alongside the MTA<\/a>, revitalizing an unused subway newsstand as a transit-themed art space. This past Saturday, the comedians displayed their fake ads across the train platforms inside West 4th station.<\/p>\n

In addition to the ads, they displayed faux products, including Kool-Aid pouches with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s face Photoshopped over the Kool-Aid mascot\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AI industry has tried to make us \u2018drink their Kool-Aid,\u2019 so we thought it made sense to have Sam Altman\u2019s face on the Kool-Aid man,\u201d Alterman said.<\/p>\n

There were signs written on cardboard with Sharpie and taped to walls, promoting local-made zines and free merchandise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured that if tech ads look crisp but tear the soul out of our city and ourselves, then our signage should look arguably human,\u201d Ross explained.<\/p>\n

In a separate corner, an iPad was setup for visitors to create their own egregious interpretations of a tech ad, with categories for design, clipart graphics for logo creation, and another with arbitrary words like \u201cturbo,\u201d \u201cspark\u201d or \u201cninja\u201d to help you scramble a fake company name.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a sense of absurdity with all the tech ads in the city,\u201d said Luke Miller, a designer at a tech company who was in attendance. \u201cSo many people are pushing for different products that feel over-inflated in value, and this shows how the ideas are sometimes kind of silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses keep trying to simplify parts of our lives and make it fun and trendy so that we become socially isolated and reliant on AI,\u201d said an attendee named Woodlief McCabe. \u201cI think this really resonates with people who are tired of this fake familiarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the viral video, Alterman and Ross have launched a new Instagram account called ai.conglomerate<\/a>, an \u201cultra-evil\u201d parent company which all these fake tech companies could live under. Their hope is to continue to poke fun with tech-based jokes and to pursue larger projects under this idea, according to Alterman.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvertising can make you feel as if you\u2019re not up to snuff, like you\u2019re not dressed the right way, or you\u2019re not as savvy as you could be,\u201d attendee Grai St. Clair Rice said. \u201cI think this installation kind of turns it back into a more reflexive community experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many visitors were \u201cdownright elated and complimentary,\u201d according to Ross. One interaction, though, stood-out to Alterman, who described speaking to a Palantir employee wearing a Palantir hat. Palantir is a software company that consolidates data for large businesses and government agencies. It\u2019s been wildly criticized for its defense contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came up to me and said everyone at Palantir is talking about these fake tech ads,\u201d recalled Alterman. \u201cThen they said, \u2018I don\u2019t work on the evil stuff at Palantir. I do something else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n