Microsoft Made an AI Ad — and Nobody Even Noticed

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Context: Surface Ads, AI, and Silent Innovation

Back in January 2025, Microsoft released a shiny, one-minute commercial for its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop lineup. It blended crisp visuals, clean scripts, and stylish product shots.

But here’s the kicker: three months later, Microsoft casually revealed that much of the ad was built using generative AI—including the scriptwriting, storyboarding, and several video sequences.

Nobody noticed at launch. Nobody raised an eyebrow. And that, honestly, is the most important part.
Check it out here, below.

What’s New

Pressed for time, Microsoft’s Visual Design team had about one month to deliver the ad. They:

• Used AI to write the script and create storyboards.
• Generated image sequences and short video clips using tools like Hailuo and Kling.
• Blended live-action shots (like close-ups of hands typing) with synthetic visuals.

They still had to manually clean up AI hallucinations—because, you know, AI still thinks fingers can have six joints sometimes. But the bulk of the production time and cost dropped by nearly 90% compared to a traditional ad.

Somewhere, a poor storyboard artist just cried into their coffee.

Compare that to Coca-Cola’s AI-generated Christmas ad last year, where obvious artifacts and awkward scenes led to trolling and memes. Microsoft pulled off the opposite: seamless enough that nobody blinked.

Why It Matters

This isn’t just a neat trick. It shows:

• Generative AI is now commercially viable at a professional level.
• Audiences can’t easily tell the difference between traditional and AI-generated creative.
• Cost and time savings are real, not theoretical.

And maybe most importantly:
When humans guide AI carefully (instead of letting it run wild), the final product can still feel genuinely crafted.

But it does open a big can of worms around transparency, trust, and what “real” even means in advertising today.

My Take

Personally, I’m torn. On one hand, it’s fascinating to see AI unlock faster, cheaper creativity. On the other, if ads, articles, and even brand identities start feeling synthetic, will we start trusting them less?

Maybe the magic isn’t whether AI is used—but whether the soul of the story still comes through.

Microsoft got it right this time. But not everyone will.

Next Up…

I’m curious—should companies have to disclose when AI helps make creative work? Next cold coffee brainstorm, we’re diving into that one.

Logged at 2:41 a.m. Cold coffee getting dangerously low. Questions getting dangerously high.
—Karan, figuring it out live.