Anthropic’s Super Bowl commercial, one of four ads the AI lab dropped on Wednesday, begins with the word “BETRAYAL” splashed boldly across the screen. The camera pans to a man earnestly asking a chatbot (obviously intended to depict ChatGPT) for advice on how to talk to his mom.

The bot, portrayed by a blonde woman, offers some classic bits of advice. Start by listening. Try a nature walk! And then twists into an ad for a fictitious (we hope!) cougar-dating site called Golden Encounters. Anthropic finishes the spot by saying that while ads are coming to AI, they won’t be coming to its own chatbot, Claude.

Another commercial features a slight young man looking for advice on building a six pack. After offering his height, age, and weight, the bot serves him an ad for height-boosting insoles.

The Anthropic commercials are cleverly aimed at OpenAI’s users, after that company’s recent announcement that ads will be coming to ChatGPT’s free tier. And they caused an immediate stir, spawning headlines that Anthropic “mocks,” “skewers,” and “dunks on” OpenAI.

They are funny enough that even Sam Altman admitted on X that he laughed at them. But he clearly didn’t really find them funny. They inspired him to write a novella-sized rant that devolved into calling his rival “dishonest” and “authoritarian.”

In that post, Altman explains that an ad-supported tier is intended to shoulder the burden of offering free ChatGPT to many of its millions of users. ChatGPT is still the most popular chatbot by a large margin.

But the OpenAI CEO insisted the ads were “dishonest” in implying that ChatGPT will twist a conversation to insert an ad (and possibly for an off-color product, to boot).”We would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them,” Altman wrote in the social media post. “We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.”

Indeed, OpenAI has promised ads will be separate, labeled, and will never influence a chat. But the company has also said it is planning on making them conversation-specific — which is the central allegation of Anthropic’s ads. As OpenAI explained on its blog, “We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”

Altman then went on to fling some equally questionable assertions at his rival. “Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people,” he wrote. “We also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who can’t pay for subscriptions.”

But Claude has a free chat tier, too, with subscriptions at $0, $17, $100, and $200. ChatGPT’s tiers are $0, $8, $20, and $200. One could argue the subscription tiers are fairly equivalent.

Altman also alleged in his post that “Anthropic wants to control what people do with AI.” He argues it blocks usage of Claude Code from “companies they don’t like,” like OpenAI, and said Anthropic tells people what they can and can’t use AI for.

True, Anthropic’s whole marketing deal since day one has been “responsible AI.” The company was founded by two former OpenAI alums, after all, who claimed they grew alarmed about AI safety when they worked there.

Still, both chatbot companies have usage policies, AI guardrails, and talk about AI safety. And while OpenAI allows ChatGPT to be used for erotica while Anthropic does not, OpenAI, like Anthropic, has determined that some content should be blocked, particularly in regards to mental health.

Yet Altman took this Anthropic-tells-you-what-to-do argument to an extreme level when he accused Anthropic of being “authoritarian.”

“One authoritarian company won’t get us there on their own, to say nothing of the other obvious risks. It is a dark path,” he wrote.

Using “authoritarian” in a rant over a cheeky Super Bowl ad is misplaced, at best. It’s particularly tactless when considering the current geopolitical environment in which protesters around the world have been killed by agents of their own government. While business rivals have been duking it out in ads since the beginning of time, clearly Anthropic hit a nerve.

Canon released its first PowerShot camera back in 1996 with a 0.5-megapixel sensor, helping kickstart the digital photo revolution. To celebrate that 30-year anniversary, the company has unveiled a Limited Edition version of its still-popular PowerShot G7 X III compact camera. It has a few unique touches but is otherwise the same as the original model released nearly seven years ago.

The limited edition model has a new “graphite” color with a knurled front ring designed to exude “luxury and quality,” Canon wrote. It also carries 30 year anniversary logo printed on the body “to create a special feeling suitable for limited edition models,” the company added in the most Canon-y way possible.

As a reminder, the G7 X III was one of the first cameras announced specifically as a model for vloggers, thanks to its ability to shoot vertical video for Instagram. It features a 20.1MP sensor, flip-up 3-inch touchscreen, 24-100mm f/1.8-2.8 zoom lens and a microphone input. It supports 4K 30 fps video with no cropping and can shoot 1080p at 120 fps. The piece de resistance is direct streaming to YouTube directly over Wi-Fi, then a new thing but now a common feature. It originally retailed for $749.

The G7 X III had been in short supply until recently, but used models became popular with influencers several years ago and started selling way above list price. Possibly because of that viral fame, Canon announced in August 2025 that it was increasing production and the G7 X III started returning to stock a few months later priced at $880.

The Limited Edition G7 X III is selling for a lot more than that at $1,299, though it does come with a limited edition Peak Design cuff wrist strap and 32GB SD card. If you want to one-up the influencers and grab one, shipping will start in April 2026.

Along with the camera, Canon announced a pair of interesting new RF-mount full-frame lenses. The first is the ultra wide angle RF 14mm f/1.4 L VCM prime model priced at $2,599, promising bright, high quality optics. The other is a very interesting $1,899 RF7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM zoom lens with up to a 190 degree perspective at the widest setting.

Some children affected by measles in the ongoing South Carolina outbreak have developed a serious complication of the disease called encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said on Wednesday.

The South Carolina measles outbreak began in October with a handful of infections. As of February 3, cases have climbed to 876, with 700 of those being reported since the beginning of the year. The surge could mean another bad year of measles for the United States, which had more than 2,267 cases—the highest in 30 years—in 2025. Declining vaccination rates across the country are driving the resurgence.

Encephalitis is a rare but severe complication of measles that can lead to convulsions and cause deafness or intellectual disability in children. It usually occurs within 30 days of an initial measles infection and can happen if the brain becomes infected with the virus or if an immune reaction to the virus causes inflammation in the brain. Among children who get measles encephalitis, 10 to 15 percent die.

It’s not known how many children in South Carolina have developed this serious complication. Under state law, measles cases must be reported to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, but measles hospitalizations and complications do not need to be disclosed.

“We don’t comment on the outcomes of individuals, but we do know that inflammation of the brain, or encephalitis, is a known complication of measles,” Bell told reporters during a media briefing on Wednesday. “Anytime you have inflammation of the brain, there can be long-term consequences, things like developmental delay and impacts on the neurologic system that can be irreversible.”

The department is aware of 19 measles-related hospitalizations in the state, including some due to pneumonia, which occurs in about one in 20 children with measles and is the leading cause of death for children who get measles.

Bell also said that several pregnant women who were exposed to the virus required administration of immune globulin, a concentrated solution of antibodies. It provides temporary protection against measles for unvaccinated individuals. Measles exposure during pregnancy can cause preterm birth or miscarriage.

A rarer type of brain swelling called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, can occur years after a measles infection. In September, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported the death of a school-age child due to SSPE. The child was originally infected with measles as an infant before they were old enough to receive the measles vaccine, the first dose of which is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old.

After recovering from the initial measles illness, the child developed SSPE, in which the virus remains dormant in the brain before triggering an inflammatory response that destroys brain tissue over time. The condition usually appears seven to 10 years after a person appears to recover from the initial measles infection. An estimated two in 10,000 people who get measles eventually develop SSPE.

The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best way to prevent measles and serious complications associated with it.

Over 7,000 more doses of the MMR vaccine were given statewide in South Carolina this January compared to January 2025, a 72 percent increase. In Spartanburg County, the center of the outbreak, over 1,000 more doses were given this January compared to January 2025, a 162 percent increase. So far, January was the best month for measles vaccination during the outbreak, Bell said.