In the latest chapter of Anthropic's "We're not like the other guys" campaign, the AI company is pledging that it won't introduce advertisements into conversations with its chatbot, Claude. And it's spending big on Super Bowl ads to make sure you know it.

Anthropic's announcement and ads take a clear shot at competitor OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker said a few weeks ago that it would begin testing ads in its products. Those ads will be "clearly marked" as sponsored posts, the company said, and ads wouldn't be served around sensitive or regulated topics, like mental health and politics. The news was a stark reversal from previous statements -- Altman called ads a "last resort" in 2024 -- though it wasn't entirely unexpected given the general chaos of the AI industry's financing.

For a long time, AI startups operated at a loss, spending billions from venture capitalists and others to focus on building their chatbots without making money. OpenAI and many others now have a complex web of circular deals to keep the lights on, but newer advanced models require more compute, better chips and generally more maintenance and money to keep up. Anthropic certainly isn't immune to these issues; the company is the the process of securing a new $10 billion funding deal. That's why AI companies are trying to find new revenue sources. Hence the ads.

The concern with including ads in chatbots (beyond general irritation) is that it will push products at the expense of actually helping users. Anthropic wrote, "Users shouldn't have to second-guess whether an AI is genuinely helping them or subtly steering the conversation towards something monetizable." There's also the demonstrated risk that tech companies will prioritize advertising metrics and revenue over users' general well-being. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Anthropic, for its part, has been very outspoken about the risks posed by AI technology, so it's not surprising to hear the company weigh in on this issue. CEO Dario Amodei has spoken at length about the potential threat AI systems may have on our humanity. But we have a wealth of examples to draw on -- streaming services, smart TVs and now chatbots -- of tech companies that tried and eventually failed to resist the allure of advertiser money. We can never say never. Anthropic didn't.