AI was a theme at the NBA Finals, but how did Sam Altman’s effort fare?

Sam Altman, the tech titan behind OpenAI and World (formerly Worldcoin), debuted a fully AI-generated commercial for the NBA Finals, aiming to appeal to our humanity, but are we convinced?

The BBDO New York ad, for his blockchain-based identity and cryptocurrency platform, aired during Game 4 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 13.

‘If You’re Human and You Know It’ is a 30-second spot, which aired on YouTube TV during the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers matchup.

The ad invited viewers to “smile for the Orb” in a bold, surreal pitch for World’s iris-scanning identity verification system. The ad, directed by Jim Jenkins and created using Google’s Veo 3 text-to-video generator, sparked both fascination and unease, amplifying debates about privacy, AI, and the future of digital identity.

The commercial, produced in just 48 hours, featured a whimsical yet dystopian montage of AI-generated visuals: a diverse cast of characters smiling at World’s Orb Mini, a sleek, beach-ball-sized iris scanner, interspersed with quirky scenes like a dancing robot, a futuristic coffee shop, and a beachgoer waving a World ID-enabled phone.

Set to a playful rendition of the children’s song ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ the ad’s lyrics were tweaked to “If you’re human and you know it, scan your eyes,” promoting World’s mission to authenticate human identity in an AI-driven world.

Humanity looks on

The tagline, “Verify your humanity, join the future” underscored World’s promise of a universal “proof-of-humanity” network, rewarding users with WLD cryptocurrency tokens (worth ~$42 per scan) for iris verification.

World’s platform, developed by Tools for Humanity (co-founded by Altman in 2019), aims to combat online fraud and bot proliferation by creating a blockchain-stored World ID via iris scans.

The ad, which garnered over 20 million impressions across platforms, highlighted partnerships with Visa for a crypto-linked debit card, Match Group for Tinder age verification in Japan, and Razer for bot-free gaming.

Our take

Relaxed regulations are afoot for a crypto-friendly Trump administration, and it seems AI is also gaining acceptance, in this case by the Disney-owned YouTube TV.

This all works well for Altman, but the playful tone of the ad belies more serious concerns. The human-focused approach of the proceedings was a clever way to get people on board, but there’s no hiding the dystopian undertones of getting your retina scanned for a big tech firm.

The ad dropped at a similar time to the Kalshi effort, and frankly, it’s better produced, seeming more ‘fully conceived’. In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, I probably wouldn’t have known it was AI if I wasn't forewarned.

We couldn’t help but notice, however, that the ‘human achievements’ on show in the ad have a very US-centric bent.