Tech Companies Roll Out Cuddly Mascots to Ease AI Anxiety

AI companies are trying a new charm offensive: using characters that look like cuddly stuffed animals to potentially make their technology feel a little less scary.

OpenAI’s new AI agents are embodied by colorful characters with bow ties and glasses, while the mascot for Meta’s META 0.71%increase; green up pointing triangle Muse assistant is a rosy-cheeked, egg-shaped character. And Anthropic has its friendly pixelated orange crab, Clawd.

As public anxiety mounts over job losses and existential risks to humanity from AI, tech firms are taking a page from the marketing playbooks of consumer product companies and pharmaceutical firms by rolling out a series of adorable mascots.

The aim is to make the AI assistants now writing code, crawling the internet and booking appointments on our behalf a little more approachable, distinct and trustworthy. If the Jolly Green Giant could get kids to eat their vegetables, perhaps a sweet anthropomorphic triangle can win over AI skeptics.

“Fear of AI grows every day and it’s hard to be scared of something cute,” said branding consultant veteran Allen Adamson. “It’s easier to trust something friendly.”

A recent Morning Consult online poll of 1,300 consumers conducted for The Wall Street Journal found that more than half of respondents agreed that AI poses an existential threat to society. Almost 70% were concerned about AI replacing jobs.

Cartoonlike characters representing powerful algorithms mark the newest chapter in a nearly billion-dollar marketing effort by AI giants battling for users against a backdrop of headlines about rogue agents hacking government websites and warnings about the dangerous pace of AI advancement.

Companies have already tried to temper AI fears and counter anxiety that reliance on automated systems could lead to cognitive decline by using softer approaches, including ads that highlight the way AI can empower people to be more productive.

Tech giants, including Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and Perplexity, have collectively poured $936 million into advertising their AI offerings in the U.S. since 2023, according to estimates from ad-tracking firm MediaRadar.

More than half of that came in the first eight months of this year.

The latest AI rebrand extends to the highest levels of government. President Trump recently signed an executive order renaming “artificial intelligence” as “superintelligence” to highlight its promise.

On Monday, OpenAI announced it was scrapping the release of its next-generation AI model over safety concerns. It introduced Dots, its new AI agents, a day later.

OpenAI’s Dots are always-on assistants designed to take care of work tasks and everyday errands, such as scheduling meetings or booking flights. OpenAI showcased the cast of pink, blue, green, yellow and purple characters with names including Iggy, Felipe, Jojo, Todd and Alfred, at an event in San Francisco.

Users can customize their own Dots’ looks and names.

“People don’t fear what they name; they adopt it,” Adamson said.

OpenAI said the Dots are expected to appear in the company’s ongoing ad campaigns for the new product.

When Meta rolled out its AI agent, Muse, at its Meta Connect conference last month, a life-size version of its mascot, Jolly, danced with attendees.

Jolly now appears on Muse billboards in New York and San Francisco, and makes cameos in Muse TV commercials. Online ads show it in a headband and sweatsuit as a workout helper, or wearing headphones while shopping online.

Anthropic staffer Sam McAllister built the retro, pixelated crab known as Clawd with code in Claude and used it to showcase some of the product’s features in a 2024 demo. Developers have embraced the crustacean and he has become a mascot for Claude Code. While Anthropic doesn’t use Clawd in its consumer-facing marketing, it does distribute Clawd merch at developer events.

Online marketplace Etsy is littered with unofficial Clawd products; one merchant sells an unsanctioned 9.4-inch plush version of the crab for $148.23.

Mascots have helped sell consumers on other potentially unappealing or dangerous products before. Cartoon character Joe Camel added a cool factor to cigarettes for decades.

Over time, an effective persona can differentiate a brand from a sea of similar options, said ad veteran Cheryl Berman, who worked on ads that featured iconic mascots including Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger.

“The character becomes the brand, turning an abstract technology into a recognizable friend,” she said.