By Victor Tangermann
Publication Date: 2026-02-20 14:24:00
Anthropic aired a spicy ad during this year’s Super Bowl, skewering competitor OpenAI’s decision to cram ChatGPT with ads for users who don’t pay for a subscription.
“Ads are coming to AI,” the ad’s tagline reads. “But not to Claude.”
The marketing campaign appeared to hit a nerve, sending OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — who called ads a “last resort” a mere two years ago — into a tailspin in which he accused Anthropic of “doublespeak.”
Needless to say, it’s a hot-button topic in the AI industry as companies continue to look for new ways to recoup some of their gigantic losses. Just last week, OpenAI researcher Zoë Hitzig announced her resignation in a New York Times essay, warning that the company may use ads to manipulate “users in ways we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”
Ads in AI tools have become so controversial that other players in the space are second-guessing as well. As the Financial Times reports, AI startup Perplexity, which became one of the first generative AI companies to introduce ads back in 2024, alongside paid subscriptions, has now abandoned advertising altogether.
The company cited fears over eroding user trust, calling it quits on ads after several months of winding them down.
“A user needs to believe this is the best possible answer, to keep using the product and be willing to pay for it,” an unnamed Perplexity executive toldthe FT, saying that the “challenge with…
