Remember when Clydesdales were a big deal, or just saying “wassup” to your friends on the phone was funny? Well, it’s AI’s world now.
Artificial intelligence is taking over the Super Bowl LX commercials much like the technology is taking over our lives. And that’s a good thing if your dog has gone missing. Or a bad thing if you’re paranoid about Alexa bringing the garage door down on your neck.
Amazon and Ring, the security camera company it owns, offer a couple different AI perspectives in ads airing Sunday. Ring’s ad about how its “Search Party” feature can help recover lost pets is currently the No. 1 pre-game ad according to iSpot, a Bellevue, Wash., company that measures the impact of advertising campaigns on TV and video streaming.
But it’s not all AI and technology: Budweiser, Pepsi and Michelob hold the other top spots so far, according to iSpot. Commercial fans can also see a bunch of ads and rate them with USA Today’s annual “Ad Meter.”
Here’s a quick roundup of some tech ads that caught our eye:
Amazon
- Product: Alexa+
- Star power: Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth
- Pitch: Hemsworth is worried about having Alexa in his house and tells his wife how AI can kill you a million different ways. But Alexa’s eventual suggestion of a massage and cinnamon scrub helps him change his mind.
Ring
- Product: Ring’s “Search Party” camera feature
- Star power: Ring founder Jamie Siminoff
- Pitch: The Amazon-owned security camera company knows the power of a dog commercial, especially a lost dog. AI proves to be better than a flyer on a pole when a girl is searching for her dog, Milo.
T-Mobile
- Product: T-Mobile’s wireless network
- Star power: Backstreet Boys
- Pitch: The boy band is all grown up and singing about the benefits of T-Mobile — to the tune of their hit “I Want It That Way.” The people in a T-Mobile store in New York seem to be happy they’ve returned.
Redfin / Rocket
- Product: Redfin’s real estate services
- Star power: Lady Gaga (singing)
- Pitch: Moving is hard. Being a good neighbor is important. The first Super Bowl ad from Seattle-based Redfin features a tear-jerking rendition of the Mister Rogers classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” at a time in America when neighborly behavior would go a long way.
Anthropic
- Product: Claude
- Star power: none
- Pitch: Your AI agent is super helpful — until ads get in the way. The spot takes a dig at OpenAI’s plan to test ads in its ChatGPT chatbot. Anthropic says its Claude bot will never have ads — except for the Super Bowl?
Meta
- Product: Oakley Meta smart glasses
- Star power: Marshawn Lynch and others
- Pitch: “Hey Meta, play my Beast Mode playlist,” Seahawks great Marshawn Lynch commands his AI-powered sunglasses before jumping out of an airplane. Wish he had them on during “Beast Quake.”
Comcast Xfinity
- Product: Xfinity Wi-Fi
- Star power: Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum
- Pitch: “Jurassic Park” would be a lot more fun if the security systems stay online. Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Ian Malcom enjoy an alternate timeline where dinosaur nightmares never happen.
- Product: Gemini
- Star power: Randy Newman (singing)
- Pitch: AI helps a mom and her young son visualize how they will make a new home their own. Lots of people seem to be moving in ads this year, and AI is packing its bags to come along.
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