Unveiling Hype Patterns in AI Advertising

AI is increasingly promoted and subsequently embraced across various industries, with promises of unprecedented efficiency, creativity, and productivity. Yet, these technologies often seem not to be fully living up to their promises, feeding critiques about the hype phenomenon in AI innovation and the overclaimed communication surrounding it. However, specific knowledge about how different media strategies contribute to AI hype is still missing. To address this gap, this paper presents an investigation of AI tools advertising to uncover narrative patterns that contribute to hype. Through the analysis of 53 company-released promotional videos about generative AI products retrieved on YouTube, the work presents 6 distinct AI hype patterns with 15 sub-categories and a set of alternative patterns for responsible AI communication. Upon reflecting on these strategies and practices, the authors examine the interplay between patterns across videos and context, and conclude with implications for creative practitioners and in human-computer interaction research.