Only the Seahawks and Patriots are gearing up for a fight.
AI The opponents are anthropic and OpenAI An advertising war has begun, trying to court corporate America on one of the biggest entertainment nights of the year.
ahead Super BowlAnthropic launched a series of tough ads against its rival.
For a 23-year-old who wants a six-pack, a The big man who had to paint the chatbot pointed out Insoles “help short kings stand tall” because “confidence isn’t just built in the gym”. And for the man trying to improve communication with his mother: his The therapist prescribes “A mature dating site that connects sensitive kids with roaring cougars” if he can’t fix that relationship.
All four ads end with the same tagline: “Ads are coming to AI. But not Claude.” There is no clear mention of ChatGPTbut the subtext is clear.
Even Sam Altman laughed. But he also called the statements “quite frankly dishonest” before diving into a lengthy critique On X.
“Our most important principle for advertising is that we don’t do it right; we obviously never run ads in a way that Anthropic describes,” Altman wrote. “We’re not stupid and we know our customers will reject it.”
Altman emphasized that OpenAI’s decision to include ads was announced last monthmaking the product more accessible. “We believe everyone deserves to use AI and are committed to free access,” he wrote. And Altman isn’t shy about taking his own shots. “Anthropic is offering an expensive product for the rich. We’re happy they’re doing it, and we’re happy we’re doing it, but we feel strongly that we need to bring AI to the billions of people who can’t afford to pay for subscriptions,” he wrote. (Claude A Free subscription versiontoo.)
ChatGPT’s advertising mechanism is not live yet, but OpenAI does on its website Ads are “separately and clearly labeled” and do not influence the answers users see. The company says it will not share conversations with ChatGPT with advertisers and focuses on prioritizing reliability, saying it gives users the option to opt out of personalization or opt for an ad-free payment plan. Ads will initially appear below answers in the chatbot, the company said. Related sponsored product or service Based on your current conversation”.
Altman wasn’t always sold on including advertising in ChatGPT’s business model. In October 2024, he described the idea as “A last resort.” But in recent years, as OpenAI has invested more and more in AI infrastructure, the company New subscriber growth has slowed.
Anthropic’s criticism of OpenAI didn’t come out of nowhere: Anthropic was founded by former OpenAI researchers who left based on concerns about the company’s direction On AI security. Anthropic wrote on February 4 Blog post Claude is ad-free because doing otherwise prevents the chatbot from being “a real assistant for work and deep thinking.” The company compares open-ended conversations with AI assistants that are too personal or complex to those of a trusted advisor. “The appearance of ads in these contexts seems irrelevant — and, in many cases, inappropriate,” the company wrote.
Although OpenAI says it does not share user data directly with advertisers, targeted advertising has been more widely criticized for exploiting users’ vulnerabilities. In this case, that concern may extend to users asking ChatGPT questions about their mental and physical health, similar to the issues shown in Anthropic’s ads. But there are also potentially targeted ads Can help With control over AI’s most toxic features. Large purchasing organizations may withdraw in response to hateful or outrageous content. Many websites and apps, from Google to Instagram, already have ads, so this may not be a huge adjustment for users.
It’s unclear whether Altman’s efforts to generate more revenue with advertising will drive consumers to ad-free competitors. But Anthropic is betting on it.