“The style is very graphic in that it’s black on white animation throughout,” Neil Heymann, Accenture Song’s global chief creative officer, told Ad Age. “It’s all derivative from [ChatGPT’s] interface, which is that pulsing black circle that comes up when you’re ready to ask a question or be inspired.”
OpenAI wanted the commercial to stand out from the colorful, celebrity-filled cacophony characteristic of the rest of the ads. “It’s Super Bowl, everything is cranked up as high as it can go, whether it’s the ads or the broadcast itself or the halftime show, everything is shouting,” Heymann said. “So, to just kind of lower our voice a little bit and have people pay closer attention, it seemed like a good strategy for differentiation.”
“Give people a minute of space,” Heymann said.
Eyes on AI in the game
Since 2022, when ChatGPT first emerged into the public consciousness, it has become synonymous with the AI revolution overtaking industries and people’s everyday queries. AI tools have become especially ubiquitous in advertising, where they have been met with excitement and dread. The enthusiasts see AI as a channel from which to pull new ideas and plumb for fresh insights. AI is powering ad tech and helping manage marketing budgets. AI doomsayers are concerned that the technology will deaden creativity and push out artists.
Read Ad Age’s guide to AI’s role in 2025 Super Bowl ads
ChatGPT has about 300 million weekly users, who use the text generator to discover ideas and dive down research holes. OpenAI also has image- and video-generators that conjure visuals from simple prompts.
This Super Bowl is a particularly high-stakes moment for the AI race, as the biggest tech companies including Google and Meta also promoted their platforms in commercials, while Salesforce and GoDaddy also had AI-focused commercials, and each took different approaches to demonstrate the technology and convince consumers of its usefulness. Google, for instance, produced an emotionally resonant ad about a father using Gemini Live, a voice assistant, to prep for his job search. The conversation with Gemini led the father to reflect on his most important job, caring for his daughter and family.
However, Google’s AI Super Bowl marketing already hit a rough patch, as errors were found in one of the 50 local ads the company created to highlight 50 small businesses that use Gemini in Workspace apps. One of the commercials depicted Gemini sharing faulty information; it appeared to get a basic fact wrong about Gouda on a Wisconsin cheese shop’s website. The ad was updated with correct information before airing, but the incident was another cautionary reminder about how the machines aren’t always reliable.
Meta, meanwhile, is promoting its Ray-Ban glasses with built-in AI. Two Meta commercials showed Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt using the glasses to identify famous pieces of art.
OpenAI’s commercial is certainly distinct from its rivals that have product-focused ads, demoing how AI works and its features. “Especially for a brand like ChatGPT, we just wanted to get a bit above that,” Heymann said. “We just felt that [the commercial] was bigger than seeing a bunch of screens and people kind of speaking into their iPads.”