Anthropic released a new ad this week called “There’s Hope in Hard Questions.” It was meant to show that Anthropic takes AI’s risks seriously. 

But many viewers walked away feeling something closer to unease. The ad opens with a burning house; not a warm, fuzzy start by any measure.

From there, the scene changes into a series of still images. Viewers see a crowd being scanned by facial recognition. 

A person sleeping on the street, long rows of tombstones, and workers digging in what looks like a mine, presumably for materials used in smartphones.

Over these images, different voices ask heavy questions. “Can AI be trusted?” one voice asks. “Who’s gonna hit the brakes if we need to?” asks another.

It is a far cry from a typical tech commercial. There are no smiling families or slick product demos here.

Anthropic

This tone is not new for Anthropic. The company has long tried to set itself apart from rivals like OpenAI and Google. 

Its pitch has always been: Anthropic takes AI safety seriously, so trust Anthropic more than the others.

Leaning into criticism of AI is actually a well-worn marketing move. Show the harms first; then position your brand as the one responsible enough to fix them. 

Plenty of industries have used this trick before. So in theory, this ad fits right into Anthropic’s usual playbook. 

Backlash

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was among the first to poke fun at the ad. 

He joked on X that he thought the spot might be satire, saying he kept checking to see if the account posting it was a parody account rather than Anthropic’s real one.

Other tech commentators piled on soon after, criticizing the ad’s grim tone and strange choice of imagery. 

One person called Anthropic “an amazing company” with what they described as the worst corporate messaging around. 

Another suggested the people behind the ad seemed disconnected from how it would actually be received by regular viewers.

Cemetery Shot

A brief scene in the ad appears to show Arlington National Cemetery. It shows up right around the line asking who is going to “hit the brakes” on AI.

That combination did not sit well with viewers. One commenter called it deeply inappropriate to pair a shot of a military cemetery with a question about slowing down AI development. 

Others echoed that reaction, singling out the same image as the most unsettling part of the whole ad.

For many, that graveyard scene became the moment the ad tipped from “thought-provoking” into “tone-deaf.”

There is nothing unusual about brands owning up to industry problems as a way to build trust. 

It is a classic move. Highlight the risks and then present yourself as the company best equipped to handle them.

But execution matters. And this time, the mix of doom-laden imagery and somber narration seems to have overshadowed whatever hopeful message Anthropic was going for.

The ad’s grim visuals and ominous voiceover have drawn comparisons to old-school corporate conspiracy thrillers, the kind where a shadowy company hides sinister motives behind a polished public image. 

That is not exactly the association a company wants when it is trying to prove it is one of the good guys.

Anthropic’s Marketing

Anthropic’s ads have made waves before, though not always negative ones.

Back in February, the company ran a batch of Super Bowl ads poking fun at OpenAI’s decision to bring ads into ChatGPT. Those spots were widely seen as a win. 

They generated buzz, helped push Claude’s app up the download charts, and reportedly annoyed Altman enough to spark a public reaction from him at the time.

This time, the reaction looks a lot different. Instead of laughs and positive attention, Anthropic is facing questions about whether its newest campaign missed the mark.