In response to recent rumors, OpenAI President Greg Brockman took to X, dismissing the claims as “fake news,” while spokesperson Lindsay McCallum Rémy echoed this sentiment, stating, “this is totally fake.”

Upon closer inspection, the circumstances surrounding the account that allegedly “discovered” the advertisement appear suspiciously convenient. The Reddit account, “wineheda,” responsible for the initial post, has since been deleted. However, a search through the Internet Archive reveals that only a year ago, the individual behind the account was seeking to expand their bookkeeping business in Santa Monica. It would indeed be a significant career leap to suddenly transition into creating ads for OpenAI and Jony Ive, especially in preparation for Super Bowl LX.

The orchestrator of this hoax seemingly invested considerable effort and devised a multi-pronged strategy to disseminate their fabricated story. Max Weinbach shared screenshots of an email he received a week prior, suggesting the promotion of a tweet about an OpenAI hardware teaser ad featuring Alexander Skarsgård, complete with a genuine-sounding payment offer of $1,146.12. Additionally, AdAge reporter Gillian Follett tweeted earlier today regarding a “fake headline” falsely attributed to her, which inaccurately claimed OpenAI was altering its Super Bowl ad. Meanwhile, OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch highlighted an “entire fake website” created to support the same false narrative.