In just 30 seconds, the video sprints from one unlikely scenario to another: a pot-bellied partier cradles a Chihuahua; a bride flees police on a golf cart; a farmer luxuriates in a pool full of eggs. Oddball details fill the screen, like a sign reading "Fresh Manatee."
"Kalshi hired me to make the most unhinged NBA Finals commercial possible," the video's creator, P.J. Accetturo, said on X.
The Kalshi ad had a high-profile debut, appearing in the YouTube TV stream of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on June 11. That placement, and the over-the-top content, might suggest weeks of work by a team of ad agency creatives, film crews and actors at far-flung locations. But Accetturo says he used AI tools instead, taking just two days to create an ad whose tone flits between internet memes and Grand Theft Auto.
One week after its streaming debut, the video also racked up more than 3 million views on Kalshi's X account. It's also raising questions about how AI might reshape advertising budgets.
"We are incredibly pleased with the outcome and effectiveness of the ad so far," Kalshi media representative Jack Such told NPR. "It has generated a lot of buzz on social media."
Accetturo, an advertising veteran, says AI will be a big part of the industry's future. Experts who spoke to NPR tend to agree, even if they're not yet sure how much the technology might displace jobs.
Like earlier advances, AI "will lower the entry barrier for some of the smaller brands" who can't afford a traditional video ad campaign, according to Alok Saboo, a professor of marketing at Georgia State University.
An AI ad that's a good fit for its subject
Kalshi describes itself as a "prediction market," but its similarity to betting platforms has drawn scrutiny from gambling regulators. In the ad, Kalshi users shout their picks for who will win the NBA title: Oklahoma City or Indiana.
The ad's tone and placement make sense to marketing analyst Debra Aho Williamson — although she admits that, not having heard of Kalshi before, it took multiple views to decipher just what was being advertised.
"Once I figured it out, I was like, OK, this is perfect," says Williamson, founder of Sonata Insights, a Seattle-based research and advisory service that focuses on artificial intelligence.
"You in 30 seconds showed multiple ways that you can wager on just everyday things," along with the excitement of rabid fan bases, she says of the ad.
A similar video featuring human actors could have captured the same energy, she says — "but because they did it with AI, they're getting a lot of attention."
How can AI make a wild video ad?
The process began with Kalshi giving Accetturo a list of themes, ideas and bits of dialogue, Such says. He then turned those concepts into a script and AI prompts — the instructions that tell AI systems what kind of content to generate.
Accetturo shared many of his prompts and revisions online, explaining how he used Google's Veo 3 AI video generator to create the ad. In a tweet, Accetturo said he also employed AI to help create the script, citing products from Google and Open AI.
"I co-write with Gemini (or ChatGPT) asking it for ideas, picking the best ones, and shaping them into a simple script," he wrote. He uses Gemini to convert the script into a detailed, shot-by-shot prompt for Veo 3. If the resulting video isn't what he's looking for, he puts the prompt back into Gemini, and asks for changes until he's satisfied with the AI-created footage.
The next step is to use video editing software to arrange each of the video clips together and add music.
"This took about 300–400 generations to get 15 usable clips," Accetturo said. He added, "Just because this was cheap doesn't mean anyone can do it."
So, how much did the AI ad cost?
Accetturo says the Kalshi ad ran alongside spots that likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and months to produce, while his ad took two days, and cost much less.
Kalshi's Jack Such declined to disclose Accetturo's fee for creating the ad. But, he added, "the actual cost of prompting the AI — what is being used in lieu of studios, directors, actors, etc. — was under $2,000."
Then there's "media time," the price marketers pay to get the ad in front of viewers. But as production costs fall, so does the price of experimentation.
"To me, I think the economics come down to just being able to execute more quickly and more economically, multiple types of ads, just try things," Williamson says. "I mean, why wouldn't an advertiser want to just put a few concepts out? Try them with a small group of people, see if it works. And if it doesn't, then move on.
"That to me, I think is the way of the future."
How might AI change advertising?
Both Williamson and Saboo compare the buzz around AI to the hype that CGI effects once enjoyed. And they note that this isn't the first AI ad to run during a big event. But previous attempts, like Coca-Cola's revamping of a classic ad, fell flat. Williamson points to a study she was involved in last year that found young people seem skeptical of AI.
"When we asked [Gen-Z and millennial] consumers in August of last year, how positively do you feel about ads generated with AI, only 48% said that they felt positively towards AI-generated advertising," she says.
As for how today's marketing students see AI, Saboo says it's a mixed picture.
"The students on one hand are using these tools to improve whatever they are doing," Saboo says. "But as they move into the workforce, they are constantly being reminded of them having to compete with these tools. We like to tell them that in the end, whether they like it or not, they have to be good at them. They have to eventually think of [AI] as an extended version of Google or computers, or any of the tools that came before."
Williamson says that by sharing how he uses AI, Accetturo is helping to demystify a new and developing technology.
"I really applaud him for being as open about his methodology and how he was able to create the ad," she says. "Because I think everybody can learn from that. Consumers can learn, but then the advertising industry can learn, too."
In addition to lowering production costs, Saboo predicts AI will make it cheaper for marketers to personalize ads to target specific locations and audiences.
"You may see a different version of the ad than I can see," he says.
Asked about Kalshi's future plans, Such says the company wants to use AI in future advertising campaigns — but, he adds, "we will not completely abandon more traditional forms."
As Saboo puts it, "in the end, humans want to connect with humans."
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