Anthropic Draws Backlash Over New AI Ad, as Altman Mocks Its Graveyard Imagery

3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Jul 14

Anthropic’s new ad, “There’s hope in hard questions,” sparked criticism after opening with a burning house and showing surveillance, homelessness, mining and cemetery scenes.
The campaign pairs those images with questions such as “Can AI be trusted?” and “Who’s gonna hit the brakes if we need to?” to cast Anthropic as unusually alert to AI’s risks.
Sam Altman amplified the backlash on X, saying he first thought the ad was satire, while other tech critics called the tone bizarre, sinister and out of touch.
A brief shot that appears to show Arlington National Cemetery drew particular anger, with commenters saying the graveyard imagery made the ad’s safety message feel especially disturbing.
The backlash contrasts with Anthropic’s February Super Bowl ads, which won positive attention by more lightly mocking OpenAI’s move to add ads to ChatGPT.