When Thinking Machines' CTO departed for OpenAI, the company cited "unethical conduct." Insiders speculate this is a "snaky PR move" or "character assassination leak" to control the narrative as talent poaching intensifies among AI labs.

Sam Altman counters Anthropic's ads by reframing the debate. He positions OpenAI as a champion for broad, free access for the masses ("billions of people who can't pay"), while painting Anthropic as an elitist service for the wealthy ("serves an expensive product to rich people"), shifting the narrative from ad ethics to accessibility.

The successful launches of Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude show that narrative and public excitement are critical competitive vectors. OpenAI, despite its technical lead, was forced into a "code red" not by benchmarks alone, but by losing momentum in the court of public opinion, signaling a new battleground.

By dropping critical ads just before the Super Bowl and OpenAI's planned ad launch, Anthropic made it impossible for OpenAI to craft and run a response ad in time. This maximized the unchallenged impact of their campaign by muddying the waters at a critical moment.

The AI industry operates in a "press release economy" where mindshare is critical. Competitors strategically time major news, like Anthropic's massive valuation, to coincide with a rival's launch (Google's Gemini 3) to dilute media impact and ensure they remain part of the conversation.

Dario Amadei's public criticism of advertising and "social media entrepreneurs" isn't just personal ideology. It's a strategic narrative to position Anthropic as the principled, enterprise-focused AI choice, contrasting with consumer-focused rivals like Google and OpenAI who need to "maximize engagement for a billion users."

Anthropic's ads lack a call-to-action, indicating their primary goal isn't consumer downloads. Instead, they use fear-mongering to "muddy the water" around OpenAI's upcoming ad product, aiming to make enterprise decision-makers and regulators wary of ad-supported AI models before they launch.

When one company like OpenAI pulls far ahead, competitors have an incentive to team up. This is seen in actions like Anthropic's targeted ads and public collaborations between rivals, forming a loose but powerful alliance against the dominant player.

Anthropic's ads imply OpenAI's upcoming ad integration will compromise AI responses with biased, low-quality suggestions. This is a "dirty" but effective tactic, creating fear and doubt about a competitor's product by attacking the category leader without naming them.