AI Takes Center Stage at Super Bowl 2025: OpenAI's Human-Made Ad Sparks Debate

The ChatGPT ad for Super Bowl 2025 was made 100% by humans - Softonic

OpenAI presented its first TV commercial during the Super Bowl of 2025, a 60-second spot promoting ChatGPT, its chatbot and most successful product. The cost of the ad was 14 million dollars. This announcement, titled "The Age of Intelligence," stands out for being created by humans, 100%, without the intervention of any artificial intelligence. The animation, which adopts a black and white pointillism style, illustrates the greatest inventions of humanity throughout history, starting with a pulsating dot and progressing through innovations such as fire, space exploration, and the arrival of the internet, culminating in the introduction of artificial intelligence. The marketing director of OpenAI, Kate Rouch, indicated that the purpose of the announcement was to highlight practical applications of artificial intelligence, rather than focusing on abstract concepts such as artificial general intelligence (AGI) or "superintelligence". Rouch emphasized that the announcement was designed to resonate with a broad audience, many of whom may not be familiar with AI. The commercial is estimated to reach 130 million viewers just in the United States, thus expanding the audience for ChatGPT. Despite expectations that OpenAI would use its own tools, such as the video generator Sora, for the creation of the advertisement, Rouch explained that these were only used to prototype ideas. "This is a celebration of human creativity," he stated, justifying the decision not to involve AI in the final production process of the advertisement. The ChatGPT commercial was one of the highlights of Fox's broadcast during the Super Bowl, alongside Kendrick Lamar's halftime show. During this event, the CEO of OpenAI also shared a new post on his blog, in which he highlighted three observations about AGI and its potential to benefit humanity.

AI Joins the Big Leagues at Super Bowl 2025

The Super Bowl is all about reaching the masses, and this year AI took centerstage at the games. OpenAI aired its first-ever Super Bowl ad this year. The 60-second spot, costing approximately $14 million, uses an artistic dot animation to position AI alongside humanity's most transformative innovations, including the wheel, fire, and space exploration. This resulted in a search spike for ChatGPT during the Super Bowl. The brand redesign also comes full circle, as the company recently underwent its first rebrand with a new logo and typeface. While the ad did not use the text-to-video tool Sora in its execution, it also avoided any overt mentions of artificial general intelligence (AGI) or artificial superintelligence (ASI) - which are at the core of the company's mission. Speaking to The Verge, Kate Rouch, chief marketing officer at OpenAI, said: "We want the message to feel relevant to the audience that is watching the Super Bowl, which includes tens of millions of people who have no familiarity with AI." CEO Sam Altman took to X, describing the ad as a tribute to the history of technology and human potential. Incidentally, on the same day, he shared his observations on AI as the world inches closer to the intelligence age. He underlined the long-term goal of making AGI a tool that improves human capability, stating that by 2035, "anyone should be able to marshal the intellectual capacity equivalent to everyone in 2025". Adding a more personal touch, Google's Super Bowl ad highlighted how the Gemini chatbot helps a father balance job interviews and parenting, showcasing AI's role in everyday problem-solving. Meta's Super Bowl ad made the case for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses featuring celebrities like Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, and Kris Jenner exploring an art gallery while using AI-powered glasses to get information about the artwork. The ad demonstrated the product's capabilities. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared that over a million Ray-Ban smart glasses were sold in 2024 and hinted at selling even more soon. During an earnings call, he called this year a key moment in the future of AI glasses. Then, there was the Salesforce ad that put the spotlight on AI's role in business, pitching Agentforce as the future of operations. The ad builds on Salesforce's broader "Ask More of AI" campaign from last year, which aimed to close the AI trust gap for businesses. With Agentforce, the company is shifting the narrative to what AI agents can actively do for users in real time. GoDaddy kept it fun with Airo, an AI tool designed to help small businesses. Cirkul played up AI's unpredictability, with Adam Devine hilariously ordering 100,000 water bottles by mistake. Even startups jumped in, including Ramp which featured NFL star Saquon Barkley, showing AI's growing reach in finance. The idea is to empower creatives and mankind in the intelligence age. OpenAI and the agency Accenture Song actually used Sora to create the ad, but only in the conceptual stages. Later, human designers were brought in to fully develop it. "This is a celebration of human creativity and an extension of human creativity," Rouch was quoted as saying in the article, addressing the decision to not use AI-generated content in the final product. OpenAI is also holding a public talk on Wednesday, sharing insights into the ad's creation and AI's future. Many AI labs and companies are at a crossroads as we enter the intelligence age. They want to ensure their advertisements deliver the importance of collaboration between AI and humans instead of AI replacing humans. In the same light, previously, Google's 'Dear Sydney' ad drew criticism for implying AI should replace human effort rather than assist it. The commercial featured a father using Gemini AI to write a fan letter to US track star Sydney McLaughlin-Leverone on behalf of his daughter. Google ultimately took down the ad. Even Apple received backlash for its 'Crush' ad, which depicted a hydraulic press flattening creative tools into a sleek new iPad. The imagery struck a nerve, especially amid growing fears that AI could replace writers, artists, performers, and other creatives. Google and Apple reportedly apologised for the way the ads were received. Silicon Valley giants have long used the Super Bowl as a stage to showcase their latest technologies and challenge the status quo in society. Apple set the tone in 1984 with its Ridley Scott-directed ad, positioning the Macintosh as a challenger to established players like IBM. This year, the spotlight was on AI. "This is potentially the most powerful tool that we've ever created, and it's in your pocket right now," said OpenAI's Rouch on ChatGPT's importance at the moment.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Super Bowl commercial was created entirely by humans, and maybe we don't have to fear AI after all

The ad cost roughly $14 million - and it was made entirely by humans OpenAI revealed its first-ever Super Bowl commercial last night during Super Bowl LIX, a 60-second slot advertising ChatGPT that cost roughly $14 million - and it was made entirely by humans, with no AI involved. The ad, entitled 'The Intelligence Age', showcases humanity's greatest inventions throughout history in a black-and-white pointillism-style animation, beginning with a single pulsing dot and building through innovations including fire, space exploration, and the internet, culminating with the arrival of AI. The ad marks the first time OpenAI has purchased a Super Bowl ad slot, which are famous for being the most expensive cost-per-second advertising in the world. OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch told The Verge that the ad aimed to focus on practical applications of AI rather than a focus on the future of AGI or 'superintelligence'. She said, "We want the message to feel relevant to the audience that is watching the Super Bowl, which includes tens of millions of people who have no familiarity with AI," The ChatGPT ad was one of the standout moments from Fox's Super Bowl LIX broadcast alongside Kendrick Lamar's Apple Music Halftime Show. As for the game itself, and incredible Philadelphia Eagles defensive performance helped the birds lift the Vince Lombardi trophy for the second time. While you might assume that OpenAI would have used one of its own tools, like its AI video generator, Sora, to create its Super Bowl ad, the animation was, as mentioned produced entirely by real people. Rouch said Sora and other OpenAI tools were used to prototype ideas, but none were used for the actual creation of the animation. She said, "This is a celebration of human creativity and an extension of human creativity," which is why the company opted to not use AI in the creation process. It's an interesting approach, considering that an ad made entirely using OpenAI's products would have been a great showcase to a worldwide audience, and while I can see the thinking behind the company's approach I'm still a little surprised that it didn't take this opportunity to show what its products can do. At the same time the Super Bowl ad aired, OpenAI CEO dropped a new blog post highlighting three observations regarding AGI (artificial general intelligence) and how it can benefit humanity. While AGI, the ability for AI to mimic human intelligence is still a while away, OpenAI's ad will likely open up ChatGPT to an even bigger audience with an estimated 130 million viewers in the US alone.

AI took over the Super Bowl -- one ad stood out from the rest

Super Bowl commercials are just as anticipated as the game itself. In some years, a common theme emerges in the ads, particularly in tech. This year, AI made its existence known with a commercial from the biggest name in the AI game. OpenAI's ChatGPT received its first Super Bowl commercial on Sunday. Called "The Intelligence Age," the minute-long ad went through some of the most significant tech advances in the history of humanity including the wheel, the light bulb, and the internet. The commercial ends with the line, "All progress has a starting point." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X after the commercial aired saying, "An ode to the history of technology, and human potential." The ChatGPT Super Bowl commercial cost OpenAI $17 million, according to The Verge. OpenAI's CMO Kate Rouch says the ad was intended to introduce ChatGPT to the millions watching who weren't familiar with the technology. "We want the message to feel relevant to the audience that is watching the Super Bowl, which includes tens of millions of people who have no familiarity with AI," Rouch told The Verge. "This is a celebration of human creativity and an extension of human creativity." Rouch also confirmed that no AI-generated content was used in the final production of the commercial. OpenAI's text-to-video model, Sora, was used to develop the concept for the ad. One of OpenAI's competitors, Google, had a couple of its own commercials during the Big Game. The ads promoted the company's Gemini AI, and one commercial shows a father practicing a job interview with the AI, which is available on the Google Pixel 9. Google also announced it would air 50 different local commercials during the Super Bowl, one for each state, promoting how its AI helps local businesses. One ad, however, appeared to have an issue, which some say could be the AI hallucinating. In the ad for Wisconsin, a Gemini result asking for "a description of Smoked Gouda that would appeal to cheese lovers" came back with a result saying the cheese accounts for "50 to 60 percent of the world's cheese consumption." One user on X said this stat can't be possibly true and that Gemini provided no source. Jerry Dischler, President of Cloud Applications at Google, replied to the post saying it wasn't a hallucination. "Hey Nate - not a hallucination, Gemini is grounded in the Web - and users can always check the results and references, Dischler said. "In this case, multiple sites across the web include the 50-60% stat." It appears the final commercial was changed. Now, the response from Gemini leaves out the "50 to 60 percent" stat from the answer.

AI-driven ads take the field during the 2025 Super Bowl | TechCrunch

We've officially experienced an AI Super Bowl, people. As everyone tuned in to watch the annual championship game, the biggest buzz wasn't just about the Eagles' blowout win and Kendrick Lamar performing his Grammy-winning diss track at the halftime show. It was also about AI being a consistent theme in several of the multi-million dollar ad spots. From OpenAI's Super Bowl debut to Google's Gemini chatbot sharing cheese facts, here are some key highlights from this year's Super Bowl ads. OpenAI debuted its first-ever Super Bowl ad with the aim of bringing ChatGPT to the masses. This commercial marks the AI startup's first foray into high-profile marketing and features a pointillism animation style, where black and white dots represent significant historical milestones, including the invention of the lightbulb, the moon landing, and the first email, ultimately highlighting the emergence of generative AI. In the company's commercial, the message is clear: remarkable achievements often begin with a single step. Reactions to the ad, however, were mixed, with many viewers arguing that the ad was a letdown whereas others praised it. It's not surprising to see varied opinions, as OpenAI divides people already. The Game Day spot comes on the heels of the company's recent rebranding, which revealed a new logo and typeface and seeks to redefine the company's identity in the competitive tech landscape. In a new video that announces the rebrand, OpenAI utilizes the same black dot motif. Of course, Google took this opportunity to show off its Gemini chatbot to millions of football fans on Sunday. The commercial highlights how a father utilizes the AI tool to juggle preparing for his dream job interview while also raising his daughter and teaching tough life lessons. It was a sweet ad, unlike a 30-second ad by Google that was posted on YouTube 11 days ago and caused a bit more drama. That earlier ad, set in a cheese mart in Wisconsin, aimed to demonstrate how small businesses use AI in Google Workspace. But according to X user Nate Hake, the original video apparently had to be edited because the Gemini chatbot provided a potentially inaccurate fact. In the original version, Gemini claimed that gouda accounted for 50% to 60% of global cheese consumption. Although Google's president of cloud applications, Jerry Dischler, responded to Hake that it wasn't a hallucination as it was pulled from cheese.com, many speculate the figure is an overestimation. It now appears that the YouTube video has been altered to remove this stat. While we guess that tweaking ads happens often, it's notable that a large tech giant like Google made such a public mistake. However, it's a reminder that AI can hallucinate, and not even large corporations catch them all the time. Meta promoted its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in an ad spot that features Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, and Kris Jenner (the Chris trifecta, if you will) as they explore an art gallery. While Pratt asks the AI-powered glasses about the artwork, Hemsworth eats an expensive banana, a reference to Justin Sun, the Tron founder and blockchain billionaire who purchased a $6.2 million piece that consisted solely of a banana taped to a wall. The Super Bowl commercial enlisted these popular celebrities to demonstrate its AI wearables, likely in a bid to boost its appeal among the general public. CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees in a leaked all-hands meeting that the company has sold over 1 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses in 2024. In a Salesforce's Super Bowl ad, the company demonstrates how "AI was meant to be." The ad features "Interstellar" star Matthew McConaughey as he rushes through the bustling Heathrow Airport. After booking his flight online, he's caught off guard by a last-minute gate change, resulting in a frantic race to catch his plane. However, maybe if he used Agentforce, Salesforce's platform for building autonomous AI agents, he could have had a less stressful experience. GoDaddy, the web-hosting platform, showcased its AI product, "Airo," during its Game Day spot. The tool is designed to assist small businesses in creating professional-quality logos, website designs, and promotional content for social media. The commercial featured actor Walton Goggins demonstrating how he uses Airo to create a website to promote his own line of goggles, aptly named the Goggins goggles. In the ad, Goggins says that actors are great at pretending, and small business owners can easily do the same. Because who needs to know what they're doing when you can ask an AI to do it for you? Water bottle brand Cirkul took a playful jab at AI during its Super Bowl ad. The commercial stars actor Adam Devine, who enlists the help of an AI assistant to order a Cirkul water bottle. However, the AI mistakenly interprets his request and ends up ordering 100,000 water bottles, highlighting the unpredictable consequences of relying on the tech for everyday tasks. The ad also announces that Cirkul plans to give away 100,000 free bottles to customers viewing the game. Along with major tech players running ads for the 2025 Super Bowl, several startups invested in ads this year, including fintech company Ramp, where Philadelphia Eagles' running back Saquon Barkley is an investor.

Inside OpenAI's $14 million Super Bowl debut

OpenAI just made its Super Bowl debut with a 60-second spot that positions AI alongside humanity's greatest innovations. The commercial traces humanity's technological evolution through a distinctive pointillism-inspired animation style, transforming abstract dots into iconic images of progress - from early tools like fire and the wheel to modern breakthroughs like DNA sequencing and space exploration. It culminates with modern AI applications, showing ChatGPT handling everyday tasks like drafting business plans and language tutoring. The ad cost roughly $14 million for the first-half placement.

First AI Super Bowl: OpenAI, Google, Meta's superficial culture shift

OpenAI's pointillism animation style Ad, where dots depict significant historical milestones. Each year, the Super Bowl showcases more than just football. It is also a platform where companies compete for attention by premiering big-budget commercials to cement the next big thing in the public's mind. In the past, it was personal computing, the dawn of online shopping, and even cryptocurrencies. This year, all signs pointed to one overarching theme -- artificial intelligence. Experts and insiders have called this the "AI Super Bowl," reflecting how thoroughly Big Tech seized the moment to parade its latest AI products. From large language models to AI-powered glasses and everything in between, we saw a coordinated effort to make artificial intelligence appear approachable, even indispensable. But while many ads tried to push AI as a delightful helper, the outcome wasn't always so seamless.

Gemini vs. ChatGPT: AI takes center stage at the Super Bowl

TL;DR: Google and OpenAI are taking their AI rivalry to the Super Bowl, using high-profile ads to push Gemini and ChatGPT into the mainstream. In mid-January, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai publicly declared that his goal for 2025 was to achieve 500 million Gemini AI users. In the battle for users and downloads, OpenAI and Google are taking their AI models to the biggest stage in advertising: the Super Bowl. In a Thursday blog post, Google revealed its marketing plans for the big game, sharing with users their creative ads 'Dream Job' and 'Party Blitz'. In Dream Job, a father prepares for his upcoming job interview with the help of Gemini Live on his Pixel. In Party Blitz, a man prompts the assistance of Gemini to help him pretend that he understands football to impress his friends. Google's campaign comes in a bid to showcase the Google Pixel 9, which was released in August 2024. More importantly, the ads aim to showcase AI applications to a wider audience. As reported by WSJ, OpenAI will also be appearing at the Super Bowl, recently announcing its rebrand, and their plans to make their ad debut on the global stage. OpenAI appointed its first chief marketing officer, Kate Rouch, in December, highlighting the AI research firm's focus on expanding its user base. However, no details were provided from OpenAI regarding the contents of the ad campaign itself. Despite the versatility of generative AI tools, many users struggle to see their everyday applications. As the technology continues to mature, priorities are shifting towards helping users understand the practical applications. Google and OpenAI's advertising battle will likely do just that.

If you want to know who will win the AI wars, just watch these two Super Bowl ads from Google and ChatGPT

If you're looking for a Super Bowl LIX game recap, you've tapped the wrong link. I want to talk about this year's Super Bowl ads, or more specifically a pair of tech-related ads, especially the one that had me reaching for the Kleenex and put the ongoing AI wars into a fresh perspective. I'm old enough to remember a time when the Super Bowl ads were just about Pepsi, McDonald's, Wendy's, Doritos, beer, and the newest cars. Super Bowl LIX was another reminder that these days nothing drives ad dollars and, perhaps, consumer interest like technology. Woven in between oddball AI slots like recreating football icon Jimmy Johnson for a simultaneously warm and creepy tribute were a whole lot of tech ads. T-Mobile ran an ad introducing its new Satellite cell service, and Square Space confusingly employed indie actor Barry Keoghan to pitch personal website building. For me, though, nothing generated as much interest, engagement and emotion, along with some head-scratching, as a pair of AI-focused commercials, one from Google for the Pixel 9 phone running Gemini Live and the other from OpenAI, plugging ChatGPT. OpenAI's minute-long ChatGPT spot provoked the head-scratching. The lack of a voice-over, or color (beyond black and white), and use of pointillism-style dots to create imagery, made it almost impossible at first to divine whose commercial I was watching. Granted, the music is sort of catchy and the imagery of things like flames, horses racing, corn blooming, ships sailing the high seas, trains racing toward you, and light bulbs is sort of compelling in a, "What the hell am I watching?" sort of way. But the key to a good Super Bowl ad is to grab people within the first 10 seconds, and OpenAI failed in that regard. I appreciated that the imagery was growing more refined and clearer - the dots kept getting smaller to represent ever-more complex imagery - but I still didn't get it. More than halfway through, there was some historical audio from a newscast, the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, and even the iconic modem handshake sound (ask your parents). Finally, with just 20 seconds left, we hear someone ask an AI chatbot to summarize... er... something. The request audio started overlapping so I couldn't tell who was asking what. The on-screen text says, 'All progress has a starting point.' Okay, sure. Whatever that means. Then you hear the more recognizable ChatGPT voice, and we see the first color of the entire ad, ChatGPT's blue voice chatbot icon, and we hear 'What do you want to create next?' The spot ends with 'ChatGPT' in a large font, and then the OpenAI interwoven icon. This is a commercial created by someone who thinks, "If they're smart enough, they'll get it. We're creating something new here. Let's be mysterious, charismatic, obtuse even. Everyone will love it and remember it." I wonder if the only 'person' they showed this ad to was a version of ChatGPT, one of the models that can tell you about any photo or video you show it. Perhaps ChatGPT watched it and said "I see a series of dots and many moving images. This all represents ChatGPT (me)." Whoever created the ad likely fixated on the words "moving images" and assumed they'd struck a chord. And they did - one of confusion. One has to wonder if anyone at OpenAI even understands people. Have they spent so much time in the bowels of ChatGPT's various powerful models that they've forgotten what it's like to be human, or even to talk to a human? The best Super Bowl LIX ads told a story: a horse rescuing a beer keg (trust me, it's better than it sounds); David Beckham discovering he has a secret twin (clever, funny) Matthew McConaughey showing how football might have been created just so we could eat more food. I'd argue that story-telling is a good rule of thumb for almost any TV commercial. Google's Pixel ad, entitled 'Dream Job', was sneaky. It grabbed my attention from the start with a refrigerator featuring family shots and a guy clearly trying to find a job. Google didn't try to hide the product or its intentions; the middle-aged guy is clearly holding a Pixel 9 phone and he's workshopping an interview pitch. From this point forward, though, Google cleverly blends product utility and emotion. The guy's pitch is dry and unemotional, but Google Gemini Live asks him a key question: "Tell me about the job that taught you the most." What follows is a walk back through the man's life as a stay-at-home dad, raising a little girl into a young woman. Each job experience he relates is actually about raising his daughter. When for example, we see an old video of him spoon-feeding his unhappy toddler daughter, he tells Gemini, "It was a role where I learned to take a lot of constructive criticism." The whole two-minute spot is heartwarming. Gemini eventually asks, "When it comes to work, what motivated you?" as the images flash back through his child's life right up to her high school graduation and his dropping her off for college. He answers, "I guess, knowing that people can depend on me." Oh, but Google and Gemini are not done. Naturally, the daughter turns back and runs to the car to give her dad one more hug. This is a commercial about AI, right? So why am I crying?! Through my tears, I see that the ad has circled back to showing Gemini complimenting the dad on his answer and telling him he's ready. The ad ends with the words "Google Pixel 9 with Gemini Live" and the dad beginning the real job interview. Google managed to pull us along through a whole emotional journey while showing exactly how you might use its powerful AI chatbot. By focusing on our shared humanity, the ad made Gemini Live feel like something a human would use. If you're a parent, the ad's theme probably hits you like a gut punch. Even if you're not, you'd be made of stone if it didn't move you OpenAI had a big opportunity with its Super Bowl LIX commercial: it would reach at least 100 million people, and the ad's message would probably define how consumers thought about ChatGPT for at least the next few months, if not longer. The problem is, the ad OpenAI delivered gave us nothing to think about it. It was about as inhuman and dispassionate as HAL 9000. Google, on the other hand, has been playing this game for longer (it ran its first Super Bowl ad 15 years ago) and understood the task at hand: connect with real people about something that is intrinsically artificial. Make them want to try it. Make them remember by imprinting an emotional note they won't soon forget. Based on these ads, Google gets us, OpenAI does not. And that's why Google Gemini may ultimately win this AI race.

This Is What Big Tech Was Trying to Do to Us at the Super Bowl

Worried about turning over your data and outsourcing your thinking to the world's biggest companies? Stop fretting -- AI will just be a cheerful pal that will prepare you for job interviews, tell you fun factoids, take your creativity to new heights and reduce the awkwardness of family gatherings, all while getting you a little closer to your humanity. So went the message -- sometimes subtextual, sometimes explicit -- as tech companies made one of their biggest pushes ever during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Google led the charge with its AI-fueled ads for Gemini, Pixel and Workspace products, particularly trying to yank the heartstrings with a spot about a job interviewee recalling how raising his daughter honed the muscles for whatever nebulous corporate job he sought. Never mind that the AI didn't really do much for the main character that your 12-year-old cousin couldn't ("try rephrasing your answer to sound more confident," was about the sum of it). You felt good watching it. And AI is all about making you feel good. The ads came in a long tradition of what might be called the Super Bowl's tech-normalization movement, in which frontiers foreign or fraught are made safe by companies introducing them to us at our most guard-down moment: while we snack on chips hanging with friends. From using a Mac in 1984 to shopping online in 2000 to investing in crypto in 2022, our screens on this day are filled with what Silicon Valley wants us to embrace next. In 2025 that something is AI, and the message came in emotional packaging that emphasized the utility while downplaying the hazards. It was, to be generous, a mixed bag. Google quickly fell into hot water with a regional ad buy that might be called Gouda-Gate. The company first included in an online drop and then edited out for the game itself a fact a Wisconsin cheesemaker solicited from Gemini about gouda accounting for at least 50 percent of all cheese consumption. The real number is, of course, much lower, prompting the change. The mess somehow became worse when Google's president of cloud applications, Jerry Dischler, dug in and said the fact "was not a hallucination," writing that "Gemini is grounded in the Web -- and users can always check the results and references. In this case, multiple sites across the web include the 50-60% stat." Which would be a little like the restaurant saying, yes its food has E. coli, but don't worry, its suppliers had assured them that it didn't. A self-own was embedded within the ad too; Google seemed to boast that its ideal customers are people unable to write or think for themselves. At least you could understand the small-business use case with that spot. A Gemini ad in which a nervous boyfriend asked AI for football terms before arriving at his girlfriend's family Super Bowl party made him sound like such a poseur even a child wondered what the hell he was doing. The ad was an even more striking examples of a self-own -- where a human-centered search might have required some critical thought and genuine understanding of the game, AI-fed answers just make us all sound like hollow parrots. The spot also backfired by turning its idealized customer into a yahoo -- "How many innings are in a football game?" -- a question totally normal people walk around asking. Don't be fooled by the casual execution, though. The spots represent a particular urgency for Google, which badly needs Gemini and these talkable assistants to take hold. Traditional search has become something younger people don't like and digital advertisers like less, putting the $300 billion business up for grabs. Gemini is its solution. Meanwhile, OpenAI, buying its first Super Bowl spot, picked up a bigger anvil, putting AI in the context of the entirety of human history. In a series of graphics that owed just a little too much to a 1980s Print Shop aesthetic, the 60-second commercial went from fire and the wheel to space exploration...but then it too looped back to the everyday-helper use cases of asking for a raise or identifying birds. The spot seemed caught between the poles of the epic and prosaic. But more problematic was what happened off-screen. OpenAI and agency Accenture Song actually used the former's video tool Sora to create the ad in the first place -- presumably making the spot's own case -- but only in the early stages, bringing in human designers to fully develop it later. Clearly the handoff was meant to show the company's recognition of the value of flesh-and-blood creativity. But like the Gemini football ad, it also caught the firm in its own contradiction -- a commercial arguing for what the machines could do inadvertently showed how much the humans can do better. By casting OpenAI in terms of its help factor -- "what do you want to create next," the closing voice-over asked -- the ad at least furthered chief executive Sam Altman's bid to bring this form of intelligence into our daily work lives. ("We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies," he wrote last month, even as many AI experts are less sure.) And Meta offered a slightly more achievable example of how this new tech might work, with spots for its Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses bringing in two Chrisses (Pratt and Hemsworth) and later Kris Jenner to show how the smart-shades could be used as one gazes upon art in a museum -- AI as portable city guide. But the leap there is more quantitative than qualitative -- a jump in form function more than anything new the glasses are actually giving you -- and also conveniently ignores the privacy concerns that come when an everyday accessory in a potentially always-on recording device. The Super Bowl tech genre has become so established it has even provoked a counter-movement. Three years ago, at the height of Metaverse-mania, Matthew McConaughey came in and pimped for more humanist concerns in a Salesforce ad. "While the others look to the Metaverse and Mars, let's stay here and restore ours," he memorably said. In a sign of how complete the AI takeover has become, McConaughey and Salesforce were back this year -- but arguing for the transformative power of the tech via the company's Agentforce suite. "What AI is meant to be," a pair of spots (pairing McConaughey with his old True Detective co-star Woody Harrelson) touted, while suggesting AI would have helped him get a better table and food order. A head-scratching use case, to say the least. As a YouTube commenter said, "This commercial makes zero logical sense, and it angers me. You also can look at the weather. The dining staff aren't going to put someone outside in the rain. When ordering, YOU tell them what YOU want, not them guessing. Did you get chatGPT to write this garbage?" Where will all this lead? Historically, the spots have brought checkered results. The 1984 ad (directed by Ridley Scott) seriously offered Apple as an alternative to IBM and paved the way to a personal-tech global-leadership spot it continues to hold today. The online-shopping bid led to most of those companies going belly-up (remember Pets.com? Me neither) not long after, though the 300 million people who use Amazon owe a little debt to the mindset-shift that began that day. And the crypto ad from Larry David was one of the best-received of 2022 ("it's too far!") but it was for FTX, and by the next Super Bowl Sam Bankman-Fried had been arrested. When it comes to AI there's no doubt the tech will be part of our lives, but at what human cost and with what social backlash remains to be seen. So the jury is still very much out on how this 2025 class of ads will age. Don't be surprised if next year brings more on-air pleas to restore what's ours. McConaughey, please stand by.

Google Bets That Super Bowl Can Turbocharge Gemini AI Business

Tom Brady Knows His TV Game Needs Work. He Says He's Ready for the Super Bowl Google is planning a major Super Bowl ad push for its Gemini AI product line, including a 60-second ad in the second quarter of the game, and purchasing 50 different 30-second ads in every state, each one spotlighting a local business that uses it AI software. While other companies are leaning on humor or celebrities, Google's spot is more serious and heart-wrenching. The spot, "Dream Job," sees a dad preparing for a job interview while using Gemini Live on his Google Pixel 9 to help him prep. A more lighthearted spot will run online, in which a guy attempts to impress his girlfriend's family by using Gemini to become a football expert. "Even though he ends up fumbling at times, it's a relatable story that shows how AI can help you navigate everyday situations with a little more confidence," writes Adrienne Lofton, VP of marketing at Google, in a blog post. Google is also planning a local Super Bowl push that appears to be without precedent. The company has purchased 30 second ads in all 50 states, with different ads in each local market. The different ads will highlight a local business that uses Gemini AI products, like Bison Coolers in Texas, Nuts.com in New Jersey, and Cottrell Boatbuilding in Maine. "We wanted to show what's possible with AI in Workspace today, and how real businesses are using it," said Harris Beber, who leads global marketing for Workspace, in a blog post. "What better way to show the unexpected ways AI helps real businesses in America than to let them share their stories?" In fact, Google says that they used the company's NotebookLM to help it pick out quotes to feature in the final spots. The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising platform in the world, with more than 100 million people watching on average. Technology companies have been frequent buyers, using the scale of the game to introduce new products or brands to the market. Fox Sports head of ad sales Mark Evans previously told The Hollywood Reporter that AI products and companies would be a recurring theme in the commercials for this year's game. "AI is coming. If it's not already here in almost every business, it will be coming like a freight train," says Mark Evans, executive vp ad sales for Fox Sports, in an interview with THR, breaking down what to expect. "So you will see some more AI focused creative, which I think intuitively would be expected."

Google's Gemini Super Bowl ads push AI as a tool you can use every day

Emma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Google debuted a pair of new Super Bowl commercials that portray AI as a technology that's as central to people's lives as the phone or computer they access it on. But, like some of Google's other Super Bowl ads, the company is once again attempting to make you pull out your tissues in between plays. The first ad, titled "Dream Job", depicts a man using the Gemini Live voice mode on his Pixel phone to prepare for a job interview. After Gemini asks him to talk about "the job that mattered to you most," the man begins detailing what he's learned after becoming a parent. Mostly, the man basically just talks to himself the entire time. Gemini takes a backseat through most of the ad, as it's simply shown listening and offering suggestions between scenes of the man raising his daughter, which even shows the family dog on death's door. The next ad, called Party Blitz, similarly highlights Gemini on Pixel, but it takes on a much more lighthearted tone. A man uses the AI chatbot's voice mode to learn more about football and come up with phrases he can use to impress his date's family before they tune into the big game together, like yelling "pass interference!" at the TV. A little corny, but at least it's not using a dying dog to tug at your heartstrings. Despite the shift in tone, it seems like Google is really trying to position its AI assistant as a helpful, conversational partner that you can interact with every day, making conducting a regular search on Google seem mundane. The company also highlighted its AI tools in Workspace in a series of ads highlighting small businesses throughout the US, though one of them showed an incorrect stat in a Gemini response.

Google's Pixel 9 Super Bowl 2025 ad is all about Gemini Live

At Super Bowl 2025, Google is airing a Pixel 9 and Gemini Live ad called "Dream Job." This is in addition to another Google Workspace with Gemini ad campaign. "Dream Job" is the national in-game ad that shows a "father as he practices for an upcoming job interview with the help of Gemini Live on his Pixel." The version Google shared on YouTube is just over 2 minutes long and tries to evoke the same emotion as 2009's iconic "Parisian Love," which is now 15 years old, by showing how the "father taps into the valuable lessons he's learned as a parent, transforming his experiences into compelling answers and boosting his confidence." It includes the new Gemini Live feature that lets you "Talk Live about PDF," which launched in January on Pixel and the Galaxy S24/25. We see a Porcelain Pixel 9 Pro throughout, but nothing besides Gemini is showcased. Save for using Gemini Live to talk about images, files, and YouTube video, the conversational assistant is available on all Android devices and as an iPhone app. Meanwhile, Google's social/digital spot is called "Party Blitz" about "how AI can help you navigate unexpected situations with a little more knowledge." At one minute long, it's the funnier Gemini Pixel 9 ad of the two and ties into the Super Bowl.