The gloves are officially off in the AI wars. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, dropped a series of Super Bowl ads this week that take direct aim at rival OpenAI’s decision to introduce advertising into ChatGPT.
The spots are clever, funny, and clearly hit a nerve, as evidenced by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s 400-word meltdown on X that devolved into calling his competitor “authoritarian” and accusing them of “doublespeak.”
This isn’t just about ads. It’s about the fundamental question of how AI companies plan to survive financially, and what that means for the hundreds of millions of people who have woven these tools into their daily lives.
The Ads That Broke Sam Altman
Anthropic’s campaign, titled “A Time and a Place,” features four spots with titles like “Betrayal,” “Deception,” and “Treachery.” Two of them will air during Super Bowl LX on Sunday, one in the pregame and one during the broadcast itself, where 30-second slots cost upwards of $8 million.
The premise is deliciously simple: show what happens when AI assistants start prioritizing advertisers over users. In one spot, a man earnestly asks an AI (portrayed as a soothing therapist figure) how to communicate better with his mother. The bot offers generic advice like “start by listening” and “try a nature walk!” before seamlessly pivoting to pitch Golden Encounters, a fictitious dating site connecting “sensitive cubs with roaring cougars.”
In another, a skinny guy doing pull-ups asks about getting six-pack abs. After sharing his height, age, and weight, the AI serves him an ad for height-boosting insoles instead of fitness advice.
Each spot ends with the same tagline: “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.”
Altman’s Meltdown Was Immediate
OpenAI’s CEO tried to play it cool. “First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed,” Altman wrote on X. But the goodwill ended there. He quickly labeled the ads “clearly dishonest” and “deceptive,” insisting OpenAI would “obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them.”
“We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that,” Altman wrote.
Then things got weird. Altman accused Anthropic of being an “authoritarian company” that wants to “control what people do with AI.” He claimed Anthropic blocks companies it doesn’t like from using Claude Code (including OpenAI itself), wants to “write the rules themselves,” and now wants to “tell other companies what their business models can be.”
“One authoritarian company won’t get us there on their own, to say nothing of the other obvious risks. It is a dark path,” Altman wrote, apparently without a trace of irony given his own company’s well-documented governance drama.
OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch piled on, suggesting Anthropic wants to keep powerful AI “tightly controlled in small rooms.”
The Actual Business Fight Underneath
Strip away the corporate theatrics and there’s a genuine strategic divergence here. OpenAI announced in January 2026 that it would begin testing ads with free ChatGPT users and ChatGPT Go subscribers (the $8/month tier) in the United States. The company promised ads would be “clearly labeled,” appear at the bottom of responses, and never influence ChatGPT’s answers.
But here’s the thing: OpenAI also said ads will be “conversation-specific,” appearing “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.” That’s precisely what Anthropic’s ads satirize.
Altman’s defense leans heavily on scale. He claims more people use ChatGPT for free in Texas alone than use Claude across the entire United States. ChatGPT has 800 million weekly active users globally; Claude has roughly 30 million monthly users. That’s a fundamentally different business problem.
“We also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can’t pay for subscriptions,” Altman wrote. OpenAI’s VP of Global Affairs Chris Lehane went even further, framing advertising as a matter of “democratic access” to AI. “If you want to question advertising, fine, but you’re effectively questioning democratic access,” Lehane told CNN.
That’s a remarkable rhetorical leap, equating ad-supported software with democracy itself.
Anthropic’s Position Is Clear, But Not Permanent
Anthropic published a blog post alongside its Super Bowl campaign titled “Claude is a space to think.” The company argues that ad-driven AI creates misaligned incentives: maximize engagement rather than helpfulness, prioritize monetizable conversations over genuine problem-solving, and introduce surveillance infrastructure into what should be a trusted relationship.
“Users shouldn’t have to second-guess whether an AI is genuinely helping them or subtly steering the conversation towards something monetizable,” Anthropic wrote.
The company notes that its internal analysis shows “an appreciable portion” of Claude conversations involve “topics that are sensitive or deeply personal, the kinds of conversations you might have with a trusted advisor.” Dropping ads into discussions about mental health, relationship problems, or career crises would feel “incongruous and, in many cases, inappropriate.”
Anthropic’s business model instead relies on enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions, with more than 80% of revenue coming from business customers. The company claims it has surpassed $9 billion in annual run-rate revenue in under two years.
But there’s a hedge buried in the blog post: “Should we need to revisit this approach, we’ll be transparent about our reasons for doing so.” That’s not exactly a blood oath.
The Deeper History Here
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including CEO Dario Amodei, who left over disagreements about the company’s direction, approach to safety, and pace of development. The rivalry runs deep and personal.
Both companies are now reportedly planning IPOs by late 2026. OpenAI is valued at roughly $300 billion; Anthropic somewhere around $60 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported OpenAI is racing toward a public listing in the fourth quarter. The stakes for both companies, and their founders, are enormous.
OpenAI also inked more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals in 2025, commitments that require massive cash generation to sustain. Advertising is one way to close that gap.
What This Actually Means For Users
If you use ChatGPT’s free tier or the cheaper subscription options, ads are coming. OpenAI insists they’ll be clearly marked and won’t corrupt the actual responses, but the incentive structure shifts the moment advertising dollars enter the picture. Every platform that’s adopted ad-based monetization eventually optimizes for engagement over utility. There’s no reason to believe AI will be different.
Claude users, at least for now, won’t see sponsored content. Whether Anthropic can maintain that position as costs mount and competition intensifies remains an open question.
The era of friendly AI competition, if it ever existed, is definitively over. Anthropic just made sure everyone watching the Super Bowl knows it.
OpenAI will air its own Super Bowl spot this Sunday, which Altman says is “about builders, and how anyone can now build anything.” No word yet on whether it includes a cougar dating site.