AI bought a sense of irony
If you ever wondered whether AI has a sense of irony, it just bought some.
Meanwhile, the biggest innovation in tech is still rhetorical: fresher ways to say, “Trust us, we’re the good guys.”
So...
Anthropic spent Super Bowl money to 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.
And it hit a nerve. The rivals responded with the kind of intensity you usually reserve for a home invasion.
They put out a full statement, the sort of document you publish when a regulator is circling, not when a competitor runs a joke about ad inventory. A few hundred words plus moral accusations of “doublespeak” later, the point comes into focus.
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲.
“Unlimited” compute stays unlimited only while someone else is paying the tab.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘀. Are they really mid?
See…If you’re going to spend Super Bowl money, you can do better than “we will not do the thing you hate that you already tolerate everywhere else.” Tell me what Claude does that ChatGPT can’t.
𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗕𝘂𝘁...
You don’t teach “agentic workflows” to 125 million people holding a hot dog and a domestic beer.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝗹 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀. You get one minute to lodge a feeling in someone’s brain, right next to “Who invited these nachos?” So yes, the ad is ordinary. That may be the point. And “no one likes ads” remains the closest thing America has to bipartisan legislation.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱.
it's 2026 and ad supported software is not a scandal. It is the weather
Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, games, news, your microwave if you stare at it too long. So the big betrayal the spot is selling does not play like horror. It plays like mild irritation, which is a small emotional delta for the most expensive minute on Earth.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿.
Make the leader feel faintly more irritating, yes.
Use the wedge, sure.
But you still owe the audience one clean, sticky reason to switch tomorrow morning, not just a reason to worry about someday.
Trust can be a moat, and moats are lovely, but 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 that actually gets them somewhere. The “oh wow, it does that” moment
Unless that’s the part still in the oven....
Till then,
𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. If I’m trying to process my relationship with my mother and the bot suggests I upgrade to Spotify Family Plan, I’m not leaving feedback. I’m throwing my laptop into the sea.
Inspired by Karthik Srinivasan, Shiv Singh, and Sandeep Nair's posts on the same.