Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial from Google poses an intriguing question: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?
The ad depicts a largely unseen Thomas Jefferson mid-draft when he gets a nagging text from Ben Franklin, leading to a very Google-centric collaboration process.
Edits are suggested in Google Docs, a meeting gets scheduled in Google Calendar and conducted remotely via Google Meet, then the whole thing is finalized with e-signatures; cue the fireworks.
The fictionalized founders use Google’s “help me visualize” AI tool to try out different animals on the national seal, Gemini takes notes on the meeting, and the founders also ask the chatbot for advice before declining King George III’s document access request.
While viewer comments on YouTube and Instagram appear to be mostly positive, the response on Bluesky has been far more critical, with posters declaring the commercial “cringey” and “stunningly tone deaf,” targeting the AI angle.
- The most AI-forward element of the ad is the footage itself, which to my eye has the uncanny glow of AI-generated video.
- The commercial shies away from suggesting that the actual text of the Declaration of Independence would be improved with AI.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this ad is its attempt to showcase Google’s AI capabilities in a tongue-in-cheek manner, without being too explicit or over-the-top.