While most watch the Super Bowl for the game, many tune in just for the commercials.
KIRO hosts Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill noticed a common theme among what are supposed to be the most entertaining ads of the year: the blatant use of AI.
“We talked about the intrusion of AI into these commercials these days,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.
“Which is everywhere,” Jake chimed in.
Spike agreed, adding that he noticed every commercial had a celebrity, but questioned if they were physically present.
“Were those guys even there? Did they film them doing this spot and then AI their faces to be younger?” Spike asked.
“I don’t know if AI is quite good enough yet for that, but I feel like in a year, they wouldn’t have to,” KIRO producer Laura Scott responded.
“Next year, they don’t even have to show up,” Spike replied.
Jake: Dunkin’ ad looked ‘messed up’
Jake thought the actors’ faces in the Dunkin’ ad looked “messed up.”
“To me, they look like maybe they weren’t there. Maybe they had just stuck them like, said, ‘Hey AI, make them in here,’” he said.
Spike also pointed to the “Jurassic Park” ad for Xfinity.
“That was a really funny concept, because then the park works great,” Jake said.
“It was funny,” Spike agreed.
Were the polar bears AI?
Spike then mentioned the Pepsi ad featuring the iconic Coca-Cola polar bears, who switched sides.
“That is smart marketing,” Jake responded. “Let me ask you about that, though. They weren’t really there, right? The polar bears, those were AI?”
“No, I think there were people in polar bear suits up in that booth,” Spike replied.
“Really?” Jake asked.
“I think so, they were interacting with people,” Spike responded.
“I assumed it was an AI,” Jake said.
Jake and Spike debate Ring’s new feature
Jake then brought up Ring’s ad for its Search Party feature, which connects nearby cameras to help find lost pets.
Spike shared that he got teary-eyed watching the commercial.
“How we find lost pets hasn’t changed in decades, until now,” Spike added.
Jake drew a comparison to “The Dark Knight,” where Batman faces the choice of turning every phone into a surveillance tool to find the Joker.
“He has the ability to turn every phone into sonar and use it against them. And he’s having this big moral dilemma. Do I use this technology and turn everything into a nanny state to find the Joker? And Bruce Wayne gives Morgan Freeman’s character, like, ‘Here you operate this, and then when it’s done, there’s a kill switch so it can never be used again. Destroy it.’ Is that not kind of what they’re doing, though?” Jake asked.
“We’re there,” Spike responded.
“That makes me very uncomfortable,” Jake remarked.
However, Spike noted the device could also help identify bad actors and warn the neighborhood.
“I think it’s a scary thing,” Jake said. “You’re now going to be on an AI identifying network. It’s going to be possibly used against you. It does make me nervous. It feels like a nanny state; it feels very Big Brother to me. It kind of gave me the ick.”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
