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The first ad from Jared Leto–backed AI video startup Pika sells AI as an escape from reality. The two-minute spot, now running on ReelzTV and social platforms, casts AI as a serene refuge from the chaos of the real world, and includes imagery that nods to war and global unrest.
Directed by Marie Schuller via RSA, the spot opens in an innocuous home setting with a girl casually using Pika’s AI tools to zhuzh up her selfies and animating real-life objects. The scene is light and harmless enough until the camera reveals a scorched, post-apocalyptic wasteland outside her window. We see a tilted American flag, toppled power lines, fires smoldering, and the unmistakable outline of a carcass.
By the end of the ad, the girl is fully absorbed in her phone, her frozen cat sitting next to her as a fireball hurtles toward earth. Just before impact, the scene flips—the flaming orb morphs into a cartoonish animation, courtesy of Pika.
AI-driven ads have often been met with backlash, with people calling out brands for tone-deaf messaging and stoking fears around AI’s encroachment on human creativity. Pika’s positioning of AI as a way to drown out the noise of a crumbling world is undeniably bold. The startup is betting that its blend of traditional production and AI-enhanced effects to create the ad will strike a chord with audiences, offering a novel approach.
“It’s pretty provocative and controversial, and a lot of major TV stations wouldn’t even run it,” said Christina Cooksey, founder, Ceiling Train, a marketing and production partner to Pika.
AI for social media clout
About a year ago, Pika launched its ‘Squish It’ tool. This quirky feature lets people take a selfie or product image and spin it into a video with two animated hands appearing on screen, squishing the image.
Once released, the tool went viral.
“Everyone went nuts all over social media,” said Matan Cohen Grumi, founding creative director, Pika.
The startup wants to carry on that momentum with its latest ad, dangling higher engagement and more reach across social media platforms, targeting content creators, social media managers, and brands.
“We’re trying to democratize social media [content] making by allowing people to very easily do this with our tools,” said Cooksey.
To create the ad, Pika worked with production companies and its in-house marketing team. Its AI tools were used to enhance the effects, amplifying certain elements of the ad.
“We’re telling a bit of an extreme story,” Cooksey added. “But it’s true to what the product enables, [allowing] someone to create content that changes their unique reality.”
