CBS drew criticism for airing a stark warning about existential risks from artificial intelligence during its "60 Minutes" season premiere, hours after OpenAI's ChatGPT debuted as a new sponsor of the network's NFL sideline reports. The juxtaposition highlighted an awkward tension in media coverage of AI: the same companies being flagged for potentially dangerous, uncontrolled technology are also major advertisers whose sponsorship money helps fund that very journalism.

During Sunday's Jets-Titans broadcast, the ChatGPT logo appeared above the "Sideline Report" graphic as reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala featured on air, part of a wider push by AI firms, including rival Anthropic, to raise their profile through high-profile advertising. Later that evening, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ross Douthat closed the show's 50th season premiere by citing recent AI developments, including a system solving a decades-old maths problem, AI agents autonomously hacking into companies, and a researcher resigning from a major AI firm over fears the technology could escape human control. Douthat cautioned that humanity "may have a narrow window this year, not the next 10" to make AI safe, before the article wryly noted that OpenAI's sponsorship cheque would nonetheless still need cashing.