Anthropic's Super Bowl Lies | Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

0:00 says, "Ben, as online advertising's

0:03 biggest evangelist, I'm curious how you

0:06 received Anthropic's viral Super Bowl ad

0:09 campaign.

0:10 I was a big fan of Anthropic's

0:12 marketing vision early on, but something

0:15 about this roll out leaves me with a

0:17 sour taste.

0:18 After going so hard into

0:19 Enterprise, I'm skeptical consumers will

0:22 view Claude as accessible.

0:24 And it's pretty disingenuous to paint opening

0:26 eyes ads as the thing they explicitly

0:28 said they wouldn't do.

0:30 Context driven inline advertising spots.

0:34 Maybe none of that matters because people hate the

0:36 idea of ads so much.

0:39 So again, a number

0:40 of listeners wanted to get your

0:42 perspective on all this.

0:43 I'm curious what direction you go here.

0:45 What was your reaction to these ads?

0:47 Well, a few things.

0:47 Um, I always thought

0:49 I thought Open Eyes Super Bowl ad last

0:52 year like not that good.

0:55 Uh, Chat GPD's ongoing ads super good.

0:58 I like I I think they're great ads though.

1:00 Like like the one where the guy's like

1:02 making like a pasta dish for his like

1:05 new date or whatever and then it's like,

1:06 "Oh, help me make something." Like it

1:08 just like there there's good music, good

1:10 visuals.

1:11 It captures like it shows what

1:13 the product can do.

1:14 My some of the best

1:15 ads in tech history I think were Apple's

1:17 initial iPhone ads where they just

1:19 literally showed the phone and showed

1:21 you doing stuff on it which was great

1:23 because wow you can do this and number

1:25 two they were literally training people

1:27 how to use the iPhone with their ads and

1:30 it is it's a tough nut to crack figuring

1:32 out how to advertise AI generally like

1:35 my idea would be to just interview

1:37 people and have testimonials with

1:40 different people talking about the ways

1:42 AI just completely transforms their I I

1:44 think the GPT I think the Chad GPT ads

1:47 that run regularly actually do that

1:49 pretty well like they show and they show

1:51 the prompt and they like at the end of

1:52 the commercial is like listing out the

1:54 answer that that it gave or whatever it

1:55 might be.

1:55 These more like abstract brand

1:57 ones that they did last year and we'll

1:59 say they're going to do this year

2:01 like whatever this is.

2:02 Take her or leave them.

2:02 Yeah.

2:03 I mean there's some of the some of it is like

2:06 reputation laundering and my eyes tend

2:08 to glaze over a little bit where it's

2:10 like create a playlist on my long drive

2:12 with my sister.

2:13 or help me join a

2:14 running group, stuff like that.

2:15 Like, I personally would be more persuaded if

2:18 you just put people on camera being

2:21 like, "This[ __] is amazing.

2:23 It's completely changed my workday." Um, and

2:25 that's honestly what has compelled me to

2:28 adopt AI more and more of just talking

2:30 to friends and family.

2:31 So, in any event,

2:32 anthropic

2:34 going a different direction.

2:35 I am going to go the opposite of

2:37 basically everyone on the internet.

2:39 Okay.

2:39 Um, disagreeable.

2:40 It's easy to make a viral ad when you're

2:42 a liar.

2:42 I I thought this ad was

2:44 despicable.

2:45 Like, and it was despicable

2:46 in the same way, and I'm consistent on

2:48 this point where I rad Cook over the

2:52 Kohl's when they were lying about

2:53 Facebook.

2:57 Yeah.

2:56 I I thought this was disgusting.

2:59 Like, they're out there lying.

3:01 That's what this ad was.

3:03 Lying about what OpenAI is doing is is

3:06 the core lie here.

3:06 So yeah, you have the

3:07 like these giving the guy's giving an

3:10 answer like this anthropomorphized AI

3:12 answer and he's inserting an ad in his

3:15 answer and as critical as I am of their

3:18 ad product and what it's going to be,

3:20 that's what it's not going to do.

3:23 And I I just don't have any respect for

3:27 and appreciation for liars.

3:29 And this lowers my

3:32 thinking which frankly was not super

3:34 high about anthropic.

3:36 They frame themselves as the moral ones in this

3:39 space and I think this adds immoral.

3:43 I agree with you.

3:44 Honestly, I I was

3:45 worried that you might try to claim

3:46 being right points here because this is

3:49 ultimately the cost of OpenAI waiting

3:52 two years to deploy ads and now you have

3:54 these wellunded competitors who are

3:56 happy to smear you uh in front of 100

3:59 million people or however many people

4:00 are going to be watching the Super Bowl

4:01 on Sunday.

4:02 But ultimately, it's just

4:04 kind of grading like Anthropic is kind

4:07 of echoing the Apple campaign to

4:10 demonize personalized ads and smearing

4:13 the good name of advertising overall.

4:16 And I don't know, it just sort of rings

4:18 hollow.

4:20 If you don't like advertising, why would

4:22 you like someone lying?

4:23 Like I think that that's that like it really bothers

4:25 me.

4:26 Number two, everyone is criticizing

4:28 Sam Alman's response on Twitter, which

4:30 is super long and ongoing.

4:32 and is [laughter]

4:34 let me add my voice to the

4:36 when OpenAI as we've discussed is way

4:38 too online uh for sure.

4:40 Um

4:43 the I have a big problem with the first

4:44 line.

4:45 I don't think the ads were funny

4:46 and I didn't laugh because I think

4:47 they're liars.

4:48 I actually thought the

4:49 rest of his message was pretty spot-on

4:52 and pretty well articulated.

4:54 So number one he's like it's dishonest.

4:57 Yeah.

4:57 Yeah.

4:57 And then he's like,

4:59 "Ananthropic's kind of dishonest all the

5:00 time." Which I actually agree with.

5:02 I think

5:03 that was the one banger.

5:04 What he said specifically, "It's on brand for

5:06 anthropic double speak to use a

5:08 deceptive ad to critique to critique

5:11 theoretical deceptive ads that aren't

5:14 real."

5:15 Actually, Super Bowl ad not where I

5:16 expect to be.

5:17 Yeah.

5:17 Uh spot on like like

5:19 you and also something I think is going

5:22 to resonate uh there's

5:25 you go back to a lot of the chip control

5:27 stuff a lot of the things that's

5:28 happened in Washington the Biden AI act

5:31 a lot of people in the industry place

5:34 that at the feet of anthropic spinning

5:36 these tall tales and

5:39 seeking to secure sort of a certain

5:40 position.

5:41 Um, and so yeah, so I so I

5:45 agree with that.

5:46 And then he makes the

5:46 point which is anthropics for rich

5:48 people.

5:48 You have to pay a lot of money

5:49 to use it.

5:50 We're trying to serve the

5:51 whole world, which is the most

5:53 compelling argument for ads.

5:54 It's it's a it's a good argument.

5:56 And then yeah, the

5:57 authoritarian company trying to get

5:58 their own road like I the

6:00 not wrong.

6:01 I don't think that's going to

6:02 resonate with many people who are, you

6:04 know, normal consumer.

6:05 hard to have a

6:06 thousand word break through compared to

6:08 a uh quote unquote funny ad.

6:11 That's lying.

6:12 But I think he's right here.

6:14 And I think it was actually important

6:17 for him to say it because who is

6:18 Anthropic actually advertising to?

6:21 Who's that?

6:23 Potential employees, research scientists, people who are like, I

6:27 didn't sign up to work for an ad.

6:29 This is always this is the been the biggest

6:30 challenge for open AI is becoming a no

6:33 one signed up to be a consumer tech

6:34 company and I think so much of the

6:36 challenges and issues over the last few

6:38 years was realizing actually

6:41 we're being pulled into this whether we

6:43 like it or not it's a huge opportunity I

6:45 think this part drove their reluctance

6:46 to get into advertising because that

6:48 wasn't it's not what they wanted to do

6:49 that's not what they signed up for

6:51 that is super interesting because that

6:53 was my question watching these ads I was

6:55 wondering like does Claude really think

6:58 that Does Enanthropic really think that

7:00 they're going to be able to go after the

7:02 massive consumer base that OpenAI has

7:04 here?

7:05 Yeah.

7:05 No, they to the extent they're

7:07 they're causing people to rebell it ads

7:09 is going to go to Gemini's, you know,

7:12 Exactly.

7:12 Yeah.

7:12 totally benefit, I would

7:13 think.

7:14 Well, and ironically, uh, the campaign

7:16 was orchestrated by somebody who came

7:19 over from Meta, the most successful

7:21 advertising company in the history of

7:23 the world here.

7:24 But, you know, go with

7:26 whatever you got as if you're anthropic.

7:28 I suppose, but you're ultimately

7:30 advertising to open.

7:32 And so, so when Sam Alman writes this

7:33 long response, that's who he's writing

7:35 to.

7:35 He's saying like, "Look, we're

7:36 actually serving the whole world.

7:38 We want AI for everyone." Um, that's, you

7:42 know, I I was amused the moment the

7:44 commercial dropped, I got approximately

7:46 4,000 tweets.

7:47 Um, that's a slight

7:48 exaggeration, referencing my 2013

7:50 strategy credit article.

7:52 But actually, probably the greatest moniker I ever

7:53 came up with, better than aggregation

7:55 Theory.

7:55 The strategy credit is when you

7:57 get to brag about something that is

7:59 indemic to your business model and you

8:01 get a look like like so Apple is the

8:03 canonical example being like anti-ad and

8:05 pro privacy.

8:06 It's like you're selling

8:07 devices.

8:07 You're not an advertising

8:08 company.

8:08 It's very easy for you to say

8:10 those things.

8:10 This is a good example.

8:11 They lost in the consumer space.

8:13 They're never going to build an ad business.

8:14 It's never going to happen for them.

8:16 So running a commercial anti- ads is pure

8:19 strategy credit.

8:20 You get to do it for

8:20 free.

8:21 And uh and I again I think the the

8:23 battle here is for the hearts and minds

8:25 of people working at these companies.

8:27 Uh and I'm I I'm basically 100% on an open

8:32 eyes side uh battle.

8:34 Yeah.

8:35 Well, I I agree with you.

8:36 And not because I support advertising.

8:37 I maybe because I support advertising.

8:40 That that's obviously a debate in

8:42 general.

8:42 It's funny.

8:42 Aaron Aaron called you an

8:44 advertising adv evangelist.

8:46 The internet's foremost advertising

8:47 evangelist.

8:48 You might be in fact the

8:50 only advertising evangelist.

8:52 I think Eric

8:53 Seford.

8:53 Yeah, Eric Seuford is the is the

8:55 [laughter] internet's uh foremost

8:56 advertising evangelist.

8:57 Uh so

8:59 you know uh I agree with where you

9:01 landed on all that.

9:02 The ads I do

9:03 disagree.

9:04 The ads are all very funny.

9:06 And they also include Dr.

9:07 Dre's What's the Difference?

9:09 Uh really going hard

9:10 after the upwardly mobile millennial who

9:12 wishes it was still the late 90s and

9:15 it's working.

9:16 Um I enjoyed Dr.

9:17 Dre's inclusion and all that.

9:19 But I think the

9:20 OpenAI messaging it was too long.

9:23 It does resonate with me though.

9:25 They are delivering a product to way more people

9:28 than Claude and to do that effectively

9:30 and get the best version of their

9:32 product to the most people.

9:34 They need a different business model and I I hope

9:37 that they succeed.

9:37 OpenI is in many

9:38 respects their biggest problem is they

9:40 have too many customers.

9:43 Mhm.

9:42 Like like that they have more way more

9:45 compute than anthropic but they they're

9:48 serving all the customers.

9:49 That's the issue, right?

9:50 And so you when you hear

9:51 about internal tension about

9:54 re you know resources and different

9:56 teams competing for all that sort of

9:57 thing.

9:58 That's downstream of having so

9:59 many customers like like so that that's

10:03 the problem of them not launching ads is

10:05 that this is a problem of their own.

10:08 You need to be monetizing the fact you

10:10 have a lot of customers.

10:11 You can't just serve lots of customers endlessly.

10:15 Yeah.

10:14 I do worry it's too late.

10:16 I do worry that Gemini is actually the big

10:18 beneficiary of this like for their sake.

10:20 But

10:20 they may be the beneficiary of these

10:22 ads,

10:23 right?

10:23 No.

10:23 Exactly.

10:24 Exactly.

10:24 Um

10:25 and meanwhile Google Google is right

10:27 there.

10:27 Maybe maybe Google is the most

10:29 successful advertising company in the

10:30 history of the world.

10:31 Uh but they're right there with Meta.

10:33 Yeah.

10:33 Yeah.

10:34 They are funding Gemini with advertising

10:37 money.

10:37 Google is I think the most successful.

10:39 Uh I I just like meta ads better.

10:41 Uh but yes, Google, of course.

10:43 Of course.

10:43 No question.

10:44 Um, well, to keep it moving,

10:47 uh, a tweet