Super Bowl Ads Indicate Big Businesses Think You Are Afraid of AI

Bob Gourley February 4, 2019

Tom Loftus provided an insightful review of some of Super Bowl ads in the 4 Feb 2019 Wall Street Journal. Like AI parody in SNL, these ads really poked fun at computers:

Seriously, did anyone catch the commercials? If the Super Bowl is the zeitgeist, then it is safe to say that America is not feeling the AI-vibe. Consider the following commercials.

Guy creates robot ‘child’ who wants to be a CPA. Alas the ‘RoboChild’ doesn’t have the emotional intelligence for a job at TurboTax. Humans win, but we are all nevertheless creeped out by the child’s laugh.

Alexa-like device talks to dudes. The poor bot can’t enjoy Pringles and she wants the two humans to know it. They shut her up by telling her to play “Funkytown.” Humans win (again), but they will go to bed aware that the bot is always listening.

Safe from technology. Home security firm SimpliSafe runs through the gamut of tech-enabled nightmares: drones, robots taking jobs, and too-smart-for-their-own good devices. So what is the solution? More technology, to guard the home. At least the devices emit a soft blue light.

I’m not sure we should read too much into this. These big businesses want to sell product and know technology is on our mind. In the cases of these three commercial’s they decided to make us laugh. I thought they were funny and hope you enjoy them too.

Here they are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIRX3yWhgZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rnrEQBieIQ

For what we really think about advanced technology see:

About Bob Gourley

Bob Gourley is the CTO and Co-Founder of the due diligence and cybersecurity consultancy OODA LLC , which publishes CTOvision.com and OODAloop.com. Bob's background is as an all source intelligence analyst and an enterprise CTO.

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