One of the biggest nights of entertainment in America is the Super Bowl, when football fans and pop culture fanatics come together and watch the biggest football game of the year. Other than the intense athletics and famous halftime shows, the advertisements are known to be some of the funniest and most watched of all time. This past Super Bowl, however, the ads were largely centered around artificial intelligence companies or features.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a computer system designed to replicate human intelligence, usually to make work more efficient. According to a 2025 study by Pew Research Center there has been a drastic increase in the advancement and use of AI in the past year alone, with 73% of Americans saying they would use AI at least a little every day. The large usage of AI was reflected in the substantial number of advertisements during Super Bowl 60, as noted by sophomore Rana Toosi.
“I didn’t notice the amount of AI related ads at first, but it got to a point where it was hard to ignore, especially when I was scrolling on social media after the game,” Toosi said. “I was a bit surprised because Super Bowl ads are supposed to be funny.”
According to Rolling Stone, 23% of the ads were for AI services, including Google Gemini, OpenAI, Claude, Ring doorbell, Meta, and many more. The OpenAI ad, for example, depicted various students and workers using artificial intelligence to quicken their work process.
“I agree that AI is a helpful tool but if we all depend on AI for all of our assignments, we just become lazier and our ability to function normally is messed up,” sophomore Anya Petrunko said. “We shouldn’t use AI for everything because then it becomes counterproductive.”
The over-reliance on AI throughout society has become increasingly striking as it is reaching more generations and is advancing to be helpful in more fields, as displayed in the great number of advertisements. There is little controversy around the occasional use of it within moral values, but the line of infrequent use and complete dependence has been progressively blurred.
“Something that stuck out to me was how people in the ads were asking chatbots things that don’t require critical thinking,” Sophomore Leyla Ozden said. “Some of the ads appealed to people who are tired of thinking which kind of ruined the tradition of the super bowl ads this year… for me.”
Despite how prevalent AI is in today’s society, it is still seen as unconstructive and problematic to many. Especially considering the negative environmental effects and taboo around using it for schoolwork or jobs, the advertisements seemed out of place in the current climate around the topic.
“I don’t like how the companies romanticized AI in the ads,” Ozden said. “Many people, especially in the younger generations, won’t even think about the harmful effects for one second.”
The fact that a technology that is known for taking jobs, harming the environment, and encouraging lazy behavior is being blasted repeatedly and encouraged on one of the biggest nights of television in the world is out of touch with a great majority of the public’s view. Still, AI is so popular and easy to use that even those morally opposed can find themselves influenced by the charming advertisements.
“The ads reminded me of the extreme over-reliance on AI and how it is unfortunately a growing issue in the world,” Petrunko said.