Bowl Bots

Super Bowl LIII may have been low on sports excitement, but it had plenty of robots and artificial intelligences — in the commercials, anyways.

Ad after ad featured bots and AIs — mostly for laughs, but sometimes with ominous overtones about the future. Here's our roundup.

The Robo Roundup

Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, aired a spot featuring "Robochild," a humanoid robot that laments the fact it won't be able to be a TurboTax Live CPA when it "grows up."

"I'm sorry, but you're never going to be emotionally complex enough for that job," the bot is told in the commercial.

https://youtu.be/JIRX3yWhgZI

Michelob Ultra also aired an ad featuring robots unable to live out their dreams — in this instance, the dream being the ability to throw back a low-calorie beer after a run, spin class, or successful day at the driving range.

https://youtu.be/nNfv9wsttKE

Pringles went essentially the same route as Michelob Ultra, only this time a smart assistant was able to compute the number of potential Pringle flavor combinations but unable to enjoy the taste of a single chip. Bummer.

Not all of the Super Bowl ads focused on the feelings of robots, though. SimpliSafe's "Fear Is Everywhere" followed a human as he navigated a world in which, well, fear was everywhere.

"In five years, robots will be able to do your job, your job, your job..." he overhears someone say at a baseball game, and later, a smart assistant ominously promises his wife that it's "always" listening.

https://youtu.be/nPwVtpNs6eU

A Sprint ad brought back the levity. In it, a trio of robots brainstorming ad ideas with a Sprint spokesperson and sports legend Bo Jackson were seemingly included for no reason other than laughs (and a mermaid, pegasus, and keytar also made appearances).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2oUB6Rbvho&feature=youtu.be

Amazon also went for humor with its Alexa ad. This one featured the company's failed attempts to integrate its smart assistant into various devices, including a dog collar that translates barks into Amazon orders. Cue dog owner Harrison Ford accepting a pallet's worth of dog food.

READ MOREWhat’s the Deal With All the Robots in This Year’s Super Bowl Ads? [Adweek]

More on the Super Bowl: The FAA Declared a “No Drone Zone” During the Super Bowl in Atlanta


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