Tell NY Dispatch: What Heated Rivalry Has to Do With the AI Race
Hi everyone! Ofir from Tell NY here, bringing you this month’s Tell NY Dispatch. February felt like the real start of the year - busy inboxes, sensational headlines, and a few cultural moments that connected directly to what we all do. Below are a few observations from the past month, along with updates on what’s ahead.
Heated RivAIry
I’m writing this assuming most of those reading this newsletter enjoyed, as much as I did, the epic ad battle unfolding between Anthropic and OpenAI (Claude and ChatGPT).
It actually started a week before the Super Bowl. Claude, whose marketing team I could honestly dedicate an entire newsletter to (and I just might) – launched a campaign right as OpenAI began testing ads in the free version of ChatGPT. The ad featured an actress speaking in a tone strikingly similar to ChatGPT’s structured response style. Mid-conversation, an ad is awkwardly inserted (very reminiscent of that infamous “ads episode” vibe from Black Mirror), before landing the punchline: “Ads are coming to AI, but not to Claude.”
The day it dropped, we screened it in the office. We genuinely admired the craft. Even though we still mostly use ChatGPT, there’s something audiences instinctively enjoy about watching the number-two player take a swing at the leader, especially when it’s done well.
Anthropic didn’t stop there. They doubled down and aired several other versions, including one that was screened during the Super Bowl. OpenAI, for their part, didn’t respond with a counter-ad. Beyond a few tweets from Sam Altman and a post the following day (Sam, could we maybe delete the em dashes before publishing?), they largely stayed out of the creative mudfight.
And that’s where it gets interesting.
Instead of escalating, OpenAI kept promoting product features and capabilities. There’s a certain confidence in that posture. When you’re the market leader, sometimes the strongest move is not to swing back, as engaging directly could have amplified Anthropic’s framing.
At the same time, Anthropic’s move was working. By being funny, they felt human. They rode the cultural momentum and living-room conversations of the Super Bowl.
And maybe that’s the real takeaway: in the AI race, brand and narrative are becoming just as strategic as product. One company chose to win on posture; the other chose to win on personality. Both knew exactly what they were doing – and both reminded us that in tech, attention is a battlefield of its own.
If You Read One Thing
Have you heard about Moltbook? Kidding. Of course you have.
Moltbook is a social network built exclusively for AI agents. No human posts, just bots interacting with one another. Within 48 hours of launch, more than 10,000 AI agents had joined the platform, chatting, building, and executing tasks while the rest of the internet watched in equal parts fascination and skepticism.
Cade Metz broke the story in The New York Times with a different lens than most of the early coverage, which focused mainly on the novelty. He framed it as a Rorschach test for where we are with AI. Some saw progress, others saw chaos. How many people reached out to you, saying, “Have you heard about Moltbook? This is it, the end is coming.”? The Times captured that ambiguity well.
He even quoted Dan Lahav from Irregular, one of the companies we most enjoy working with, who pointed to what may be the real headline: securing these bots is going to be a huge challenge. And that, more than the sci-fi chatter, is probably the story that will matter most in our near future.
If you read one thing this week, make it this piece.
👉 Read the New York Times Analysis: A Social Network for A.I. Bots Only. No Humans Allowed.
An Actually Fun RSA Calendar Hold
Between your fifth sales meeting and your seventh espresso, we’re hosting something different – a mixer for the people shaping the brands behind cybersecurity’s fastest-growing companies.
This year, for the first time, Tell NY will bring together a curated group of cyber marketing leaders during RSA to connect, swap ideas (and yes, a little industry gossip), and hear from top CMOs in the space, including Wiz’s Raaz Herzberg and Torq’s Don Jeter. There will be an open bar, light bites, and – most importantly – a room full of people who get it.
The happy hour will take place on Tuesday, March 24 at 3:30 PM (because it’s never too early for a drink at RSA). The exact location will be shared upon RSVP approval, but rest assured it’s just a couple of minutes’ walk from Moscone.
Spots are limited → RSVP here!