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The Super Bowl is known for its over the top commercials. Most of the time, they’re packed with A-list celebrities, big-budget stunts, and clever bits of writing. But there was an extra element to some of this year’s ads that could be considered a bit disconcerting. Meta, Google, and OpenAI are amongst the tech companies using one of the world’s biggest platforms to showcase their AI products. Most of the ads followed formulae everyone will be a bit familiar with.
Nostalgia, families spending time together, adventures — something is going on that everyone either recognizes from their own lives or wants to be a part of. Yet AI’s not only involved, but central to those experiences, too. This could be a problem, for a few reasons. We’re unlikely to be looking back on Super Bowl LIX as the moment the machines got a foothold and humanity started to crumble, but it might have a big effect on the day-to-day lives of millions of people. So why do we need to be cautious, and why is throwing several million dollars at the United States’ biggest sporting event a bad move by big tech? Let’s break it down.
AI is embedded enough already
AI is already part of everyday life: it’s on your phone, it’s flooding your inbox, and it’s probably on the other end of the line. The ads are attempting to normalize it further, and that could be pretty dangerous. The tech has technically been around in some shape or form for a while, but things went into overdrive when ChatGPT was released to the public in late 2022. Society is still adapting to AI, and its impacts and implications are far from being properly understood.
That hasn’t stopped major companies going all in on AI, and pushing it everywhere they can. The obvious potential is a major driver, but fear of being left behind might be a big contributor, too. There’s a lot of “if we don’t do it, someone else will” surrounding AI both on the business and international levels as countries stare worryingly across the water at each other. Rushing forward often leads to silly decisions, lower standards, and regular people often feel the consequences of it all.
So using something like a Super Bowl ad to make the still-fledgling tech look innocent, harmless, and central to a functional happy life could be downright dangerous as things stand. There are a lot of positives surrounding AI, and it could indeed enhance life like we’re seeing in the ads. But it’s too early to call that yet, and people should stay cautious about the technology.
So, what’s the problem with AI?
Just to be clear, companies aren’t trying to “sportswash” Skynet with these Super Bowl ads, but there are some glaring issues people need to be constantly aware of before becoming reliant on the tech. For a start, AI simply isn’t reliable enough to perform the kind of functions we’re seeing showcased in ads. It gets things wrong via issues like hallucination, and says nonsensical stuff, quite often. If you’re relying on it to capture precious family moments or organize your schedule, and aren’t providing close oversight, then moments will be missed along with a few appointments.
Data privacy is as much of an issue with AI as it is in other areas of tech, too. Worse still, if AI is humanized, you may be more trusting of it. More trust means more access, so your opinions and your deepest, darkest secrets could be in there alongside your date of birth, address, and face. You see that in the Gemini ad especially, as a man pours his heart out to Google’s AI assistant.
There isn’t a lot of information on whether AI has been used to write any of the commercials we saw at Super Bowl LIX. But if I had to slap some money down, as many people do during Super Bowl season, it’s a bet between that fever dream of a Dunkin commercial or the Tubi one with the weird flesh-hats.
Source: http://www.slashgear.com/1784635/every-ai-super-bowl-2025-commercial-problem/
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