Anthropic (Claude): A Time and a Place
Campaign · 2026 · Notable
Claude reached No. 7 on the US App Store after its ads mocked advertising in AI.
Sam Altman
@sama · Feb 4, 2026
First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed. But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won’t do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic
Nikita Bier
@nikitabier · Feb 5, 2026
Comms advice: Never respond to playful humor with an essay. Just say “damn, they cooked us” or make a joke about them.
TBPN
@tbpn · Feb 9, 2026
Introducing Claude with Ads Free access to Anthropic’s most powerful model, powered by ads. Try it now: claudewithads.com
Spread Score
How it worksNumbers
- Earned impressions, Feb 4–12 (agency estimate)
- 8.3B
- As of Feb 12, 2026 · Self-reported · The One Club for Creativity / Mother award submission
- Seed to peak
- 5 days
- Feb 4 ’26 to Feb 9 ’26
- Platforms
- 6
- Started on X
- Origin
- Mixed
- Technology
How it spread
Trace the originAnthropic released four films about advertising in AI before its paid Super Bowl placements. Altman objected on X, and press covered the reactions. TBPN made a parody app. Claude reached No. 7 on the US App Store after the ads and a model launch.
13 more events on this chart
Join free to see themTimeline (16)
January 2026
OpenAI precursor · Jan 16 ’26
OpenAI announced plans to test ads in ChatGPT for some US users.[1]
February 2026
Changelogupdated Oct 12 ’26
- Added: 16 events, 20 sources · Score 49
Spread the same way
New cases, every week
How the next thing spread, the week it does.