Last night, the big ads of the Super Bowl were dominated by AI—both tech giants pushing their chatbots and non-tech companies embracing AI-created ads and storylines. But as some brands race to embrace AI, taking the opposite approach might be a surer way to stand out. In our 2026 Predictions trend report, YPulse told you this would be a year of Gen Z acting as AI detectives. With image and text generators getting more polished by the day, everything is fair play to investigate. And while many brands are leaning into AI for shopping tools, personalized recommendations, and of course, images, others have discovered that taking jabs at AI can sell, too. As some young consumers link the tech to carbon burn and mental-health creep, a growing number of brands have chosen to lean in on anti-AI sentiments for connection. Just as we said they would, this new category of marketing leans into self-awareness of their potential to use AI, but the authenticity that can only come from human-made...
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