Sam Altman criticises Anthropic's ads mocking ChatGPT's ad plans
05 Feb 2026

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman has slammed Anthropic, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, for its recent Super Bowl commercials.

The ads poked fun at OpenAI's decision to introduce advertisements in the free tier of ChatGPT.

One ad featured a man asking a chatbot for advice on how to talk to his mom.

The bot then offered some humorous suggestions before promoting a fictional cougar-dating site called Golden Encounters.

Ads take a jab at OpenAI's decision to show ads
Strategic move

The Anthropic commercials were clearly aimed at OpenAI's user base, following the latter's announcement about introducing ads in ChatGPT's free tier.

The ads caused quite a stir, with many media outlets reporting that Anthropic "mocks," "skewers," and "dunks on" OpenAI.

One of the commercials even featured a young man seeking advice on how to build a six-pack. After providing his height, age, and weight, the bot served him an ad for height-boosting insoles.

Altman responds to Anthropic's ads
CEO's reaction

Altman took to X to express his displeasure over Anthropic's ads.

He called them "dishonest" and criticized Anthropic's broader approach as "authoritarian," claiming the ads implied that ChatGPT would manipulate conversations to insert an ad, possibly for something inappropriate.

However, he did clarify that OpenAI has promised its ads will be separate, labeled, and won't affect a chat in any way.

OpenAI is planning to introduce conversation-specific ads
Advertising strategy

Despite his objections, Altman admitted that OpenAI is planning to introduce conversation-specific ads. This was the main accusation made by Anthropic's commercials.

The company explained on its blog, "We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there's a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation."

Altman's take on AI accessibility
Product availability

In his post, Altman also claimed that "Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people."

He argued that OpenAI wants to make AI accessible to billions of people who can't afford subscriptions.

However, it's worth noting that Claude (AI by Anthropic) also has a free chat tier with subscriptions ranging from $0 to $200.

Altman's claim about Claude's usage restrictions
AI regulation

Altman also accused Anthropic of wanting to control how people use AI.

He claimed it restricts the use of Claude Code from "companies they don't like," such as OpenAI, and dictates what people can or cannot do with AI.

However, both companies have usage policies and talk about AI safety.