OpenAI's Super Bowl pitch for the Intelligence Age

If you tuned into the Super Bowl, you might have caught an unexpected 60-second animated spot nestled between the usual truck and beer commercials: swarms of pointillist dots shifting from the discovery of fire to the steam locomotive, DNA, and finally, a smartphone screen running ChatGPT.

It was OpenAI’s first-ever television commercial, costing roughly $14 million for a first-half slot to reach an estimated 130 million viewers, according to The Verge.

The premise is bold. OpenAI is framing artificial intelligence not as a tech disruption, but as the direct continuation of humanity's greatest milestones, officially kicking off what CEO Sam Altman calls the Intelligence Age.

Human artists only, and zero mention of AGI

The behind-the-scenes strategy tells you a lot about the tightrope AI giants are walking right now.

OpenAI’s corporate mission centers on artificial general intelligence and superintelligence. Yet, under new CMO Kate Rouch, the ad scrubbed both words completely. Instead, viewers saw practical, low-friction tasks like drafting a business plan or tutoring a language.

Then there is the production itself. While OpenAI’s video model Sora was used internally during early brainstorming to rapidly test visual ideas, the final broadcast was produced entirely by human artists. Zero AI-generated animation made the final cut.

That was a deliberate move. The industry is still nursing bruises from Google’s disastrous Olympics commercial, which drew fierce backlash and was pulled after showing a parent using Gemini to write a fan letter for his child. OpenAI wanted to ensure its pitch looked like a celebration of human craft rather than its replacement.

OpenAI also shared fresh traction numbers alongside the spot. ChatGPT now tops 300 million global active users. In January, one in seven American adults used the tool, and nearly 80 percent of its user base is under 35. For context, it took Netflix roughly a decade and Fortnite nearly a year to hit 100 million users; ChatGPT crossed that mark in two months.

Why it matters

Dropping eight figures on a football ad is less about bragging rights and more about the brutal reality of OpenAI's balance sheet.

With competitors nipping at its heels and Google and Meta airing their own AI commercials during the same game, OpenAI is chasing a $300 billion valuation and a projected $11.6 billion in revenue this year. You simply cannot hit those numbers selling API credits to Silicon Valley engineers. You need mainstream adoption from tens of millions of everyday Americans who have never opened a prompt box.

We think toning down the techno-messianic jargon was the right play. Showing basic utility instead of god-like algorithms keeps the pitch grounded and avoids the cringe factor that doomed Google's Olympics campaign.

Still, the contradictions are hard to ignore. Elevating ChatGPT to the exact historical footing of fire and agriculture feels undeniably self-aggrandizing. And relying entirely on human illustrators while selling software meant to automate digital workflows is a subtle admission that, when tens of millions of dollars are on the line, nothing beats human taste and polish just yet.