OpenAI’s Super Bowl Ads Drama Continues, Company Confirms ‘Leaked’ Ads Are Fake

OpenAI has confirmed that a viral video claiming to show a leaked Super Bowl advertisement is fake, shutting down online speculation about an upcoming hardware reveal.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman wrote on X that the circulating clip was “fake news,” while an OpenAI spokesperson separately described it as “totally fake.”

The false claim began on Reddit, where a now-deleted account alleged that an internal OpenAI commercial had been accidentally posted by an unhappy employee. 

The post said the ad was supposed to air during Super Bowl LX and showed actor Alexander Skarsgård using futuristic OpenAI-branded hardware, including a shiny orb and wraparound earbuds.

The narrative fueled speculation that OpenAI was preparing to launch a long-rumoured consumer device, potentially connected to design work involving former Apple chief designer Jony Ive.

Further signs pointed to a coordinated hoax. Tech analyst Max Weinbach shared screenshots showing he had received an email offering payment to promote a tweet about an “OpenAI hardware teaser ad” featuring Skarsgård, indicating someone was attempting to seed and amplify the fake story.

here's the problem

got these a week ago pic.twitter.com/qkPIaJpdCz

— Max Weinbach (@mweinbach) February 9, 2026

Meanwhile, OpenAI ran a Super Bowl ad that highlighted tools such as ChatGPT and the company’s Codex coding assistant.

You can just build things. pic.twitter.com/g0JCVjbSef

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 9, 2026

Over the last few days, competitor Anthropic has also taken public jabs at OpenAI through its own Super Bowl advertising. Anthropic ran spots depicting a future in which chatbots are cluttered with intrusive ads, implicitly criticising OpenAI’s plan to test advertising within ChatGPT.

For those waiting with excitement for the Super Bowl commercials, Anthropic just dropped four ads (a 30‑sec version will air during the Super Bowl), directly firing shots at OpenAI. pic.twitter.com/gQjzUfDX2a

— J. M. Sultan (@jmsltnv) February 4, 2026

Responding on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Anthropic’s portrayal was “clearly dishonest,” adding that OpenAI would never insert ads directly into AI responses. “I guess it’s on brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads,” said Altman in a post on X. 

“More importantly, we believe everyone deserves to use AI and are committed to free access, because we believe access creates agency. More Texans use ChatGPT for free than total people use Claude in the US, so we have a differently-shaped problem than they do,” he added.

Altman also stated that Anthropic ‘serves an expensive product’ to rich people. “We are glad they do that, and we are doing that too, but we also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can’t pay for subscriptions,” he said, reiterating the need to run advertisements to sustain the company’s business model. 

Additionally, Altman also accused Anthropic of wanting to ‘control what people do with AI’, which includes blocking companies, including OpenAI, from using their products.

“They want to write the rules themselves for what people can and can't use AI for, and now they also want to tell other companies what their business models can be.”