As the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) grows, we are starting to see it implemented in everyday things such as commercials. With AI, companies no longer need to hire human actors, necessarily, for small skits and can just use technology to mimic human feelings and emotions.
AI commercials gained more traction with the recent Super Bowl. According to Fast Company, “15 out of the 66 commercials—or 23% of them—either used AI in their creation (like the entirely AI-generated ad from the vodka maker SVEDKA) or were spots by big tech companies directly advertising their AI services.”
To me, this is disgraceful and not at all how AI should be utilized.
Some of the commercials did not use AI to mimic humans, but rather to write the script, as was with the Genspark AI platform and the “Take the Monday After the Superbowl Off” ad starring Matthew Broderick.
Some of the ads also went out of their way to criticize people who have doubts about AI, such as the ad starring Chris Hemsworth and his wife, where Alexa proves she means him no harm by booking him a cinnamon scrub, which wins him over.
I think these types of ads are ultimately unnecessary and take opportunities away from real people.
Not only are actors getting overshadowed, but writers are losing their positions as well. Companies should not need an AI platform to write their commercials for them. If a company does not know its own product and goal enough to write the commercial itself, then they should not be promoting it in the first place.
I think the method of poking fun at people who question AI is also condescending. While the commercial starring Chris Hemsworth is meant to be in good faith and get a laugh out of the audience, it all feels very disingenuous because people should be questioning AI and its place in our world.
AI positions are taking roles away from real people. There is no need for people to rely on it so heavily. AI does not need to be used for writing or animation. These are positions that normal people can fill and have always filled. Writers have always had a significant role in our society. Some ones that come to mind are Mark Twain, Shakespeare, Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf.
Using AI is already unnecessary, but using it for the entirety of a commercial is absolutely ridiculous.
SVEDKA, the vodka maker, made a “Shake Your Bots Off” commercial, which is completely A.I-generated, something that is obvious through the visuals alone, taking away opportunities from writers, actors and animators.
Why couldn’t they have used real people? Why couldn’t they have animated the commercial themselves?
I feel like a lot of it boils down to laziness. It is easier not to pay people to do the work for you and to instead turn to an AI platform that isn’t sentient enough yet to ask for a minimum wage. What company would want to pay animators, actors and writers when they can just ask AI what to do for free?
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
