AI companies are pouring a lot of money into advertising

AI companies are playing their biggest role yet in the Super Bowl, with all the major AI players buying ads to pitch their tools — both to consumers and businesses — to an expected audience of up to 130 million people.

This year’s Super Bowl ads cost a record $8 million for an average 30-second run, with some costing as much as $10 million, plus more to produce the ads. Tech giants and startups alike are seizing the opportunity to be part of the national conversation.

The battle began the week before the big game when Anthropic’s Claude debuted an ad dissenting from OpenAI’s decision to include ads in ChatGPT. The announcement sparked a response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which brought more attention to the campaign. OpenAI will return to the Super Bowl ad lineup this year after its first campaign — a 60-second spot — last year.

But it’s not just Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Altman facing off: all major AI players are buying time in the big game. These campaigns replace some large categories of advertisers, including automakers, that are withdrawing.

Google It features ads for Gemini AI’s second year after touting its AI-powered features in the previous two years: the Pixel’s “Guided Frame” and “Magic Eraser.”

Amazon Leaning into fears about AI in the home with A Place for Alexa+ features actor Chris Hemsworth voicing some comedic concerns about the dangers of AI. and deadInstead of promoting its chatbot like other tech companies, it’s back with sites for its Oakley Meta AI glasses, which offer access to its AI tools.

A number of small AI companies are also purchasing Super Bowl spots to introduce their products to a wide audience.

Startup Genspark is marketing its AI productivity platform, with an ad featuring Matthew Broderick. Base44 is showcasing its AI-powered app development tool, saying anyone can use its products to create custom apps. Wix, known for its website creation tools, will showcase its new Harmony platform, which uses artificial intelligence to enable web design.

One smaller AI company, Artlist.io, showcases its AI tools to consumers by putting the technology at the center of its 30-second ad. The entirely AI-generated ad boasts that it was purchased a week ago and was created for just a few thousand dollars in just five days.

It’s one of a group of companies, including those unrelated to technology, that have used artificial intelligence to create their ads this year.

Svedka Vodka is running an ad this year for the first time in decades after alcohol campaigns were banned. (Absolut is also running a big ad for the game.) Svedka is bringing back the Fembot character that appeared in its ads in the early 2000s, this time powered by AI trained on TikTok dances.

Other uses of AI will be more subtle: Xfinity used AI to digitally age the cast of Jurassic Park for a new commercial.

Since commercial production costs for a Super Bowl ad typically start at $1 million, and are usually much higher — celebrities can charge millions of dollars for a cameo appearance, for example — the response to this year’s Super Bowl ads can have big implications for how these high-profile ads are produced.