Anthropic’s Super Bowl commercial, one of four ads the AI lab dropped on Wednesday, begins with the word “BETRAYAL” splashed boldly across the screen. The camera pans to a man earnestly asking a chatbot (obviously intended to depict ChatGPT) for advice on how to talk to his mom.

The bot, portrayed by a blonde woman, offers some classic bits of advice. Start by listening. Try a nature walk! And then twists into an ad for a fictitious (we hope!) cougar-dating site called Golden Encounters. Anthropic finishes the spot by saying that while ads are coming to AI, they won’t be coming to its own chatbot, Claude.

Another commercial features a slight young man looking for advice on building a six pack. After offering his height, age, and weight, the bot serves him an ad for height-boosting insoles.

The Anthropic commercials are cleverly aimed at OpenAI’s users, after that company’s recent announcement that ads will be coming to ChatGPT’s free tier. And they caused an immediate stir, spawning headlines that Anthropic “mocks,” “skewers,” and “dunks on” OpenAI.

They are funny enough that even Sam Altman admitted on X that he laughed at them. But he clearly didn’t really find them funny. They inspired him to write a novella-sized rant that devolved into calling his rival “dishonest” and “authoritarian.”

In that post, Altman explains that an ad-supported tier is intended to shoulder the burden of offering free ChatGPT to many of its millions of users. ChatGPT is still the most popular chatbot by a large margin.

But the OpenAI CEO insisted the ads were “dishonest” in implying that ChatGPT will twist a conversation to insert an ad (and possibly for an off-color product, to boot).”We would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them,” Altman wrote in the social media post. “We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.”

Indeed, OpenAI has promised ads will be separate, labeled, and will never influence a chat. But the company has also said it is planning on making them conversation-specific — which is the central allegation of Anthropic’s ads. As OpenAI explained on its blog, “We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”

Altman then went on to fling some equally questionable assertions at his rival. “Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people,” he wrote. “We also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can’t pay for subscriptions.”

But Claude has a free chat tier, too, with subscriptions at $0, $17, $100, and $200. ChatGPT’s tiers are $0, $8, $20, and $200. One could argue the subscription tiers are fairly equivalent.

Altman also alleged in his post that “Anthropic wants to control what people do with AI.” He argues it blocks usage of Claude Code from “companies they don’t like,” like OpenAI, and said Anthropic tells people what they can and can’t use AI for.

True, Anthropic’s whole marketing deal since day one has been “responsible AI.” The company was founded by two former OpenAI alums, after all, who claimed they grew alarmed about AI safety when they worked there.

Still, both chatbot companies have usage policies, AI guardrails, and talk about AI safety. And while OpenAI allows ChatGPT to be used for erotica while Anthropic does not, OpenAI, like Anthropic, has determined that some content should be blocked, particularly in regards to mental health.

Yet Altman took this Anthropic-tells-you-what-to-do argument to an extreme level when he accused Anthropic of being “authoritarian.”

“One authoritarian company won’t get us there on their own, to say nothing of the other obvious risks. It is a dark path,” he wrote.

Using “authoritarian” in a rant over a cheeky Super Bowl ad is misplaced, at best. It’s particularly tactless when considering the current geopolitical environment in which protesters around the world have been killed by agents of their own government. While business rivals have been duking it out in ads since the beginning of time, clearly Anthropic hit a nerve.

Last year, Roblox launched an open-source AI model that could generate 3D objects on the platform, helping users quickly design digital items such as furniture, vehicles, and accessories. The company claims the tool, called Cube 3D, has so far helped users generate over 1.8 million 3D objects since it was rolled out last March.

On Tuesday, the company launched the open beta for its anticipated 4D creation feature that lets creators make not just static 3D models, but fully functional and interactive objects. The feature has been in early access since November. 

Roblox says 4D creation adds an important new layer: interactivity. With this technology, users can design items that can move and react to players in the game.

​At launch, there are two types of object templates (called schemas) that creators can try out. 

The first is the “Car-5” schema, which is used to create a car made of five separate parts: the main body and four wheels. Previously, cars were a single, solid 3D object that couldn’t move. The new system breaks down objects into parts and assigns behaviors to each so that they function individually within the virtual world. The AI therefore can generate cars with spinning wheels, making them more realistic and interactive. ​

The second is called “Body-1,” which can generate any object made from a single piece, like a simple box or sculpture.

The first experience with 4D generation is a game called Wish Master, where players can generate cars they can drive, planes they can fly, and even dragons.

​In the future, Roblox plans to let creators make their own schemas so they’ll have more freedom to define how objects behave. The company says it is also developing new technology that could use a reference image to create a detailed 3D model that matches the image’s style (example below.)

The company says it is developing more ways to help people create games and experiences using AI, including a project it has dubbed “real-time dreaming.” Roblox CEO David Baszucki last month explained that this project would let creators build new worlds using “keyboard navigation and sharing real-time text prompts.”

The open beta comes on the heels of Roblox’s recent implementation of mandatory facial verification for users to access chat features in the game, following lawsuits and investigations related to child safety.

The founder of David Protein, maker of popular high-protein nutrition bars, announced on X on Monday that longevity guru Dr. Peter Attia “has stepped down from his role as Chief Science Officer at David.”

The announcement comes after Attia’s name appeared in more than 1,700 documents, including email correspondence, released on Friday as part of a massive file dump related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to The New York Times. Attia served on the executive team of the food startup and was also an early investor.

For those unfamiliar, Attia is a Canadian American physician who has become one of the most prominent voices in longevity and preventive health. He’s best known for his bestselling book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” and his now seven-year-old podcast, wherein he explores optimization strategies. He was also hired just last month as a contributor to CBS.

Three-year-old, New York-based David Protein raised a $75 million Series A funding round in May of last year led by Greenoaks, with participation from Valor Equity Partners. The company has experienced significant growth since launching its flagship protein bar in September 2024, a product it describes as having 28 grams of protein, zero sugar, and 150 calories.

In a lengthy post on X, Attia wrote that he was “ashamed” of some of the crude content in his emails with Epstein, but he also said he was not involved in criminal activity and never visited Epstein’s island or traveled on his plane. Attia also discussed at length how he came to know Epstein and why he stayed involved with him even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction.

The fallout appears to extend beyond David Protein. It also appears that Biograph, the healthcare testing and longevity startup that Attia co-founded with entrepreneur John Hering, may be distancing itself from the physician. The company declined to comment on Attia’s ongoing participation with the startup or about the pages on its website that used to mention him but now omit his name or return a “file not found” error.

Biograph came out of stealth a year ago, TechCrunch previously reported, with backing from investors that include Vy Capital, Human Capital, Alpha Wave, and WndrCo, along with angel investors, including Balaji Srinivasan. Like a growing number of concierge medical service companies, Biograph offers premium preventive health services to subscribers who pay between $7,500 and $15,000 per year. Attia was previously named on the company’s press release and site as a co-founder.