Anthropic’s first Super Bowl ad has become a flashpoint in the AI arms race, drawing a pointed response from OpenAI chief executive (CEO) Sam Altman.
In a 420-word post on X, Altman responded to Anthropic’s upcoming Big Game commercial, which touts chatbot Claude’s promise to stay ad-free just weeks after OpenAI said ChatGPT would begin running ads.
“First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed,” Altman wrote. “But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won’t do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them. We are not stupid, and we know our users would reject that.”
He claimed it was “on-brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads that aren’t real, but a Super Bowl ad is not where I would expect it.”
Altman highlighted Anthropic’s subscription business model, writing that it served “an expensive product to rich people.”
“We are glad they do that, and we are doing that too, but we also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can’t pay for subscriptions,” he added.
First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed.
But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won’t do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic…
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 4, 2026
The company’s chief marketing officer (CMO), Kate Rouch, echoed Altman in her own post on Claude’s commercial.
“Calling ‘ads’ a betrayal when your business model is selling paid subscriptions to companies,” she said.
Betrayal! Deception! Treachery!
Those ads are funny
(and the former meta ads executive who made them is good at his job. he had a lot of practice)
Here’s what’s not funny:
Calling “ads” a betrayal when your business model is selling paid subscriptions to companies.
ChatGPT… pic.twitter.com/CwFx5x5MO0
— Kate Rouch 🛡️ (@kate_rouch) February 4, 2026
ADWEEK reached out to Anthropic for a response. The company declined to comment.
