OpenAI becomes sideline sponsor for CBS NFL broadcast amid AI safety warnings

CBS on Sunday night warned that the world may be sleepwalking toward a future where artificial intelligence runs amok, and perhaps destroys all of humanity.

For now, however, we will have to be content with the AI companies subsidizing our football broadcasts.

Sunday afternoon, viewers of the NFL on CBS were surprised to hear that the broadcast has a new sponsor this season: OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The AI chatbot, it turns out, is now the presenting sponsor of the NFL sideline report segments, where the broadcast booth throws to the sideline reporter on the field.

Videos online showed the broadcast booth during the New York Jets-Tennessee Titans game tossing to reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala, as the ChatGPT logo was displayed above the “Sideline Report” graphic.

The sponsorship underscores the lengths that big AI companies are going to secure power users, with OpenAI competitor Anthropic releasing memorable ads during this year’s Super Bowl as well.

But the timing of the ads are rich, considering the news cycle over the past week has been dominated by AI researchers warning of the technology escaping beyond our control, to the point of potentially destroying humanity. OpenAI has been at the center of that news cycle, thanks to its rogue AI agents hacking Hugging Face, the AI development company.

In fact, just after the NFL ended, CBS programmed a new episode of 60 Minutes, the first in what is a consequential new season. The season 50 premiere ended with its “Last Minute” segment, featuring new correspondent Ross Douthat addressing the AI elephant in the room:

“Right now no story looms larger than the latest developments in artificial intelligence. An AI system solved a math problem in 88 hours that human beings have struggled with for almost 100 years. Other AI hacked into companies on their own, and this past week a researcher quit a major AI firm, warning that if artificial intelligence gets out of control, it could wipe out the human race,” Douthat said in the segment. “You don’t have to believe that prophecy, but you should believe this: We may have a narrow window this year, not the next 10, to make artificial intelligence safe for humanity. That clock is ticking, and so is ours. For almost 60 years, it has meant the same thing: journalism you can trust. Where we’re headed, we’re going to need it.”

But first, OpenAI needs to cut that check. The NFL won’t pay for itself.