OpenAI is "hoppin' mad" over Anthropic's new Super Bowl TV ads, which the AI lab claims are an attempt to mock and discredit its own plans for introducing advertisements into chatbot conversations. The ads, featuring a single word splashed across the screen followed by a scenario where a person asks a human stand-in for an AI chatbot for personal advice, only to get blindsided by a product pitch, have sparked a heated response from OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman and Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch.
Altman has called Anthropic's ads "clearly dishonest" and accused the company of being "authoritarian," suggesting that they are trying to control access to AI technology. He has also claimed that OpenAI is not stupid enough to run ads in a way that would alienate its users, and that Anthropic's approach is an overreach.
Rouch has responded by calling the ads "funny" but pivoting quickly to criticize Anthropic for wanting to tightly control powerful AI technology. However, she did acknowledge that her own company's stance on advertising could be seen as heavy-handed.
Meanwhile, OpenAI President Greg Brockman has pointed out that Anthropic's blog post about its ad plans makes it sound like the company is keeping the option open to sell users' attention or data to advertisers, which Brockman finds troubling.
The rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic is particularly heated because several OpenAI employees left the company to found Anthropic in 2021. Anthropic's Claude code has managed to pull off a market upset by becoming a favorite among some software developers despite being smaller than OpenAI in terms of overall market share.
It appears that the financial backdrop of these companies plays a role in their disagreement over advertising, as OpenAI is reportedly burning through $9 billion this year while generating about $13 billion in revenue. Anthropic, on the other hand, relies more on enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions rather than advertising and has not taken on infrastructure commitments at the same scale as OpenAI.
The dispute between these two AI labs highlights a larger debate over access to AI technology and how it should be regulated. While some argue that companies like Anthropic are trying too hard to control access to powerful AI, others see them as necessary checks on the influence of tech giants like OpenAI.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen how this rivalry will play out in the future, but one thing is clear: both sides are determined to shape the course of AI history and ensure that their respective visions for the technology come to fruition.
Altman has called Anthropic's ads "clearly dishonest" and accused the company of being "authoritarian," suggesting that they are trying to control access to AI technology. He has also claimed that OpenAI is not stupid enough to run ads in a way that would alienate its users, and that Anthropic's approach is an overreach.
Rouch has responded by calling the ads "funny" but pivoting quickly to criticize Anthropic for wanting to tightly control powerful AI technology. However, she did acknowledge that her own company's stance on advertising could be seen as heavy-handed.
Meanwhile, OpenAI President Greg Brockman has pointed out that Anthropic's blog post about its ad plans makes it sound like the company is keeping the option open to sell users' attention or data to advertisers, which Brockman finds troubling.
The rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic is particularly heated because several OpenAI employees left the company to found Anthropic in 2021. Anthropic's Claude code has managed to pull off a market upset by becoming a favorite among some software developers despite being smaller than OpenAI in terms of overall market share.
It appears that the financial backdrop of these companies plays a role in their disagreement over advertising, as OpenAI is reportedly burning through $9 billion this year while generating about $13 billion in revenue. Anthropic, on the other hand, relies more on enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions rather than advertising and has not taken on infrastructure commitments at the same scale as OpenAI.
The dispute between these two AI labs highlights a larger debate over access to AI technology and how it should be regulated. While some argue that companies like Anthropic are trying too hard to control access to powerful AI, others see them as necessary checks on the influence of tech giants like OpenAI.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen how this rivalry will play out in the future, but one thing is clear: both sides are determined to shape the course of AI history and ensure that their respective visions for the technology come to fruition.