AI Had a Big Night at the Super Bowl

If you caught the Super Bowl ads this year, you probably noticed AI popping up more than usual. Yes, your favorite chatbot apparently bought a ticket to the Super Bowl this year, and it wasn’t shy about showing up.

Anthropic kept things low-key. Their Claude ads ran as a pre-game 60-second spot and an in-game 30-second spot. The message was simple: Claude doesn’t have ads, and the spots leaned into that with humor, mocking chatbot interruptions with odd scenarios, like a dating site for *sensitive cubs and roaring cougars*. No flashy visuals, no dramatic music, just Claude quietly doing its thing. It even stirred a little debate online when Sam Altman called it *deceptive* on X.

OpenAI’s spot focused on Codex and ChatGPT as tools you can actually use. It showed AI helping with everyday building and problem-solving tasks. Nothing over the top, just practical stuff in action. Some viewers found it refreshing, a few thought it was a little dry, but it definitely got people talking.

Amazon took a different approach with Alexa+. Chris Hemsworth starred in a playful, slightly unsettling ad where the AI seemed to take over his garage, pool, and even fend off bears. It was funny and a little tense, more entertainment than instruction, and clearly aimed at general viewers rather than businesses.

There were other AI mentions sprinkled throughout the breaks. Google Gemini had a warm, homey design spot, Meta showed Oakley AI glasses with Spike Lee and Marshawn Lynch, and Svedka ran its first mostly AI-generated ad, which drew some attention. A few smaller companies like Genspark and Wix also had brief AI mentions.

Watching all these ads back-to-back made the differences stand out. Anthropic was subtle, OpenAI practical, and Amazon playful. It was like seeing three different personalities of AI in thirty-second bursts.

Some of the websites linked in the ads struggled under the traffic. A few went down briefly when people tried to check them out. Even when the tech looks smooth on screen, the real world has its own pace.

In the end, all of these ads made their mark, AI has become part of the new normal. For a few minutes during the Super Bowl, AI had its moment front and center.