You may assume it would be a nearly impossible for a commercial about technology and AI to make parents feel all the feelings … but this one does.
In Google’s Super Bowl ad for their Pixel 9 with Gemini Live, revealed exclusively to TODAY.com on Feb. 6, a father enlists AI to help him prepare for an upcoming job interview. He follows his phone’s prompt to talk about “the job that taught you the most,” and rather than discussing a previous office position, he talked about his time as a stay-at-home father.
As he uses business buzzwords to describe his role as a father, you see images of him raising his daughter.
He learned to “take constructive criticism” when his infant refused baby food. He became accustomed to “working long hours with a small team,” as he and his wife took turns for middle-of-the-night wake-ups. He grew “very comfortable multitasking” as he held the baby and her bottle, talked on the phone and wrote down a message as the dog ran around his feet.
He honed his negotiating skills with his daughter at bedtime, collaborated with the team in terms of family Halloween costumes and completed the required on-the-job training of learning TikTok dance moves.
“But most importantly, I show up every day no matter what,” he says in a voiceover as we see images of him watching his daughter play sports in the snow and say goodbye to the family pet.
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In the two-minute ad’s final images, the dad drops his daughter off at college. After she walks away from the car, you can see his chin begin to quiver. And when the daughter turns around to give her dad one last hug, he imagines her both as the confident teenager she is now … and the sweet toddler she used to be.
As the dad clicks on his mouse to start his job interview, you can spot a pink note on his desk that reads, “Good luck Dad!”