Did AI Super Bowl Ads Make Americans Like AI More?

February 9, 2026 · Episode Links & Takeaways

Author

Nathaniel Whittemore
February 10, 2026

HEADLINES

The SaaSpocalypse Takes Hold

$400B in software market cap wiped out last week as the seat-based
SaaS model faces an existential question...

Thomson Reuters: Strong Results, Still Punished

Stock fell 20% after Anthropic's legal plugin launch — despite reporting 7% revenue growth, 9% EBITDA growth, and 44.3% margins. CEO Steve Hasker says AI is delivering "tangible benefits." The question has shifted from "will legal AI sell" to whether pricing power holds as lookalike features spread.

Microsoft Memo Responds to OpenAI Competition

Microsoft lost $218B in market cap last week. Commercial CEO Judson Althoff circulated a memo with talking points against OpenAI's Frontier product, emphasizing Microsoft's edge in agent security. Separately, Satya Nadella has been experimenting with Claude Code and encouraging employees to try OpenClaw.

OpenClaw Partners with VirusTotal

~400 malicious skills found on ClawHub, including popular ones like linkedin-job-application. OpenClaw now scanning every upload with VirusTotal. Won't catch prompt injection, but it's the start of agent security being built in real time.

MAIN STORY

Did Super Bowl Ads Change What Americans Think of AI?

23% of Super Bowl ads were AI-related. But with only 32% of Americans trusting AI (Edelman), 52% more concerned than excited (Pew), and 73% expecting net job loss (Gallup) — the real question isn't whether the ads were good. It's whether they moved the needle with the persuadable middle.

THE ADS

Anthropic — "There is a time and place for ads"
IPOT survey: likability in the bottom 3% of Super Bowl ads over the past five years. Purchase intent 24% below norms. Most common viewer reaction: "WTF." The anti-OpenAI message killed with the enfranchised audience but was confusing for everyone else.
Reuters Anthropic buys Super Bowl ads to slap OpenAI
YouTube Watch the ad

OpenAI — "You can just build things"
Codex-branded. Hands and making things, flashes of Turing, Hopper, Einstein. Positive but forgettable — Ad Age positioned it as OpenAI trying to make ChatGPT the Kleenex of AI. The ad most AI people would've guessed was for Claude Code.
Verge OpenAI's Super Bowl ad claims "You can just build things"
Adweek Inside OpenAI's Super Bowl Return
Ad Age Positioning ChatGPT as the Kleenex of AI

The Fake "Leaked" OpenAI Ad
Elaborate hoax on Reddit — full 30-second fake ad with what looked like Alexander Skarsgård and chrome earbuds. Fake Adage headline circulated. Greg Brockman: "fake news." Alexis Ohanian: "they should've run this one." Nobody knows who made it.
Verge OpenAI's supposedly 'leaked' Super Bowl ad was a hoax

Google — Gemini helps a family find home
Most acclaimed AI ad. Mom and son imagine their new house with Gemini. Randy Newman on the soundtrack. Dan Shipper: "Low key Google had the best AI Super Bowl commercial for consumers." Google remains one of the few willing to go for heartstrings over humor.
YouTube Watch the ad

Amazon — Chris Hemsworth vs. Alexa
Hemsworth discovers Alexa+ is "full on AI" and spirals into HAL-like paranoia about his smart home killing him. Running all the way at fear works as comedy. Divisive — some loved it, others weren't thrilled about Amazon making light of real concerns.
YouTube Watch the ad
Campaign Chris Hemsworth goes full paranoia

Microsoft — Copilot in the NFL
Extended their existing Copilot campaign. Coaches use AI to scout recruits. On brand with the setting, otherwise unremarkable.
Adweek Microsoft Flexes AI in Football-Centric Ad — But It's Not New

Meta — Oakley smart glasses
Marshawn Lynch, Spike Lee, iShowSpeed. Fortune's read: aimed at investors as much as consumers. Meta playing to their real strength in wearables.
YouTube Watch the ad
Fortune Meta's ads may not just be about smart glasses

Genspark — Matthew Broderick gets the day off
Got the slot on Christmas Eve, turned it around in 5 weeks. Broderick channels Ferris Bueller. On some "most effective" lists, but also triggered backlash — people read it as promoting AI replacement.
Adweek Genspark Leverages AI For Fast-Turnaround Spot

Base44/Wix — "Woah, I just built an app"
Most underrated AI ad. Same energy as OpenAI but more direct and funnier. Shows people gaining new capabilities rather than AI doing their existing work — inherently empowering, not threatening.
Youtube Watch the ad

Svedka Vodka — First fully AI-generated Super Bowl ad
Horror movie robots chugging vodka at a rave. PJ Ace: "I would not be proud of this. In fairness, we're talking about it, but God it sucks." Consensus view.

AI.com — The $70M domain play
Crypto.com founder spent $70M on the domain, ran a Super Bowl ad pointing people to claim a handle. Site crashed instantly. Turns out it's an OpenClaw wrapper — meaning OpenClaw went from non-existent to part of a Super Bowl ad in three weeks.
Adweek AI.com Crashes the Super Bowl, and Its Website
Gizmodo 'Largest Domain Purchase in History'

ALSO REFERENCED

→ TBPN's spoof: Claude with Ads — tongue-in-cheek version that delivers a sales pitch before answering
→ Rob Haisfield: "Why didn't Anthropic put this in their Super Bowl ad?" (re: live sports scores)
→ Dan Shipper: "Low key Google had the best AI Super Bowl commercial"
→ Erik Goldhar on per-seat pricing: "We used to buy software for humans to use"
→ Sam Altman: "Every company is now an API company, whether they want to be or not"

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