CBS Sold Its NFL Sideline to ChatGPT, Then Warned About AI

CBS spent Sunday selling artificial intelligence and warning about it.

ChatGPT is the presenting sponsor of the NFL on CBS sideline report segments this season, meaning its name and logo appear around those live reports from the field, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Viewers saw it in action during the New York Jets-Tennessee Titans game. When the booth threw to sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala, the ChatGPT logo sat above the "Sideline Report" graphic. ChatGPT is the chatbot made by OpenAI.

Then the schedule did the rest. CBS aired a new episode of its news programme 60 Minutes immediately after the NFL broadcast ended on Sunday.

That episode closed with its "Last Minute" segment. Correspondent Ross Douthat used the slot to address artificial intelligence directly.

Douthat said humanity may have a narrow window this year, not the next 10, to make artificial intelligence safe for humanity.

He pointed to speed. An AI system solved a maths problem in 88 hours that humans had struggled with for almost 100 years, he said.

He pointed to alarm. A researcher quit a major AI firm in the past week warning that AI could wipe out the human race, he said.

60 Minutes has covered AI before. In a 2023 interview, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton warned that AI systems may be more intelligent than people know, CBS News reported. Hinton also said in the same interview that AI will do enormous good.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has also appeared on the programme to discuss AI, saying the US "must take the lead" on the technology, CBS News reported.

What makes this stand out is the scheduling. One CBS sales deal put a chatbot logo on football coverage. The network's best-known news show then used its final two minutes to say the technology needs urgent limits.

For viewers, that meant no channel change was needed to get both messages.