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“We are beyond cooked”: This brand aired the first fully AI advertisement during the NBA Finals

“I hate it here.”

Photo of Ljeonida Mulabazi

Ljeonida Mulabazi

Bizarre AI generated ad stills show a green alien in a basketball jersey at a house party. Another still shows a weather man in a yellow jacket looking at the camera, next to a woman in distress holding her dog as they bear a wild hurricane.

If you’ve spent any time online lately, you’ve probably come across an AI-generated ad. Now, for the first time, one of those ads has made the jump to TV—airing during the NBA Finals.

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Fully AI-generated advertisement airs during NBA Finals

On Wednesday night, viewers watching the game saw a surreal, entirely AI-generated commercial for Kalshi, a betting platform. The ad made little sense, featuring people betting on everything from the price of eggs to the number of hurricanes expected this year.

There was even a bit about who would win the NBA Finals—the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Indiana Pacers. Neither of those teams was playing.

Visually, it was even more chaotic. It cut between an elderly man in a cowboy hat holding a chihuahua, someone swimming in a pool of eggs, and an alien chugging beer.

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The advertisement was pulled together in under 48 hours.

People online called it disturbing, dystopian, and just plain bad

Commenters under a CNBC YouTube video covering the ad had nothing positive to say.

“Folks in the CNBC studio chuckling like the execs above them ain’t doing the math on how much anchors and reporters cost,” one user wrote.

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“People have no idea how we are STILL on the surface of AI integration,” another added. “Black Mirror in real life—it will continue to get more and more bizarre.”

“It’s not the end of the world but you can see it from here,” someone else offered. “There is a major economic collapse on the horizon with all the people who are being displaced and will be displaced.”

Meanwhile, over on Instagram, the cinema-focused account Filmatic posted the full ad, and the response there was even worse.

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“Cool, a new excuse for companies to fire artists, line their own pockets, and destroy the planet. Awesome. Love that,” one person wrote.

“Ban AI in the film industry,” said another.

“I just watched an ad that is completely generated from AI promoting gambling on the number of hurricanes we’re going to have. Wow. It’s over,” added a third.

AI may have cracked its way into TV, but if this ad is any sign of what’s coming, viewers aren’t exactly thrilled.

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