Mark Zuckerberg really wants you to believe that AI is good, actually. But the gist of his company’s “hopeful” new ad campaign, at least for now, is the one-minute sale of Meta’s AI efforts that… it involves a very small AI.
According to a Meta spokesperson, this ad is the start of a broader effort by the company to present a different vision to “AI doomers and those who paint a dystopian vision” of the future. “As we enter this next wave with AI, we continue to believe that the future belongs to everyone,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post accompanying the video. “We are focused on giving everyone the tools to reach their full potential and ensure that the benefits of technology are distributed to everyone.”
In particular, this is the same company that in recent months has used the productivity benefits of AI as an excuse to lay off thousands of its employees. The same company accused of using AI to justify cuts that unfairly affected workers on medical leave. The same company sued by publishers for allegedly training its AI with copyrighted material. The same company once had an internal policy document that suggested allowing AI chatbots to have “sensual” conversations with children. Those guys!
So what are the benefits of AI? It’s hard to say because the commercial makes very few references to any of the Meta’s AI features. Instead, it shows a series of unscripted images: a moving crowd, smiling people, dancing couples. Are these people supposed to happily benefit from AI? Who can say. It then cuts to the person scrolling through Facebook, Instagram logo and WhatsApp chat. All those apps packed AI features last year, but none of them are visible in video.
The company’s communications team describes the campaign as “starting to talk.” [Meta’s] an optimistic view of the future with AI,” which seems like something that should have been considered before investing billions of dollars in building AI.
There is a brief moment where the video cuts to the words “Muse Spark,” Meta’s latest AI model, on a laptop screen. And a second later the Meta AI interface appears. But there is no indication of what these tools can actually do or why they should be relevant to anyone watching. It’s just that… they’re available to “everyone,” I guess? “Some people would have you believe that AI will make us less connected, and leave us behind,” the video said. “We couldn’t argue more.” That’s right!
It wouldn’t be the first time Zuckerberg has been vague about the future of AI. Now he talks about AI with the same uncanny enthusiasm he had for the metaverse, something he once predicted would “be the successor to the mobile internet.” We all know how that ended.
The last 15 seconds of the video prominently features Meta’s smart glasses, including its new Kylie Jenner-branded frames. There are a few shots of POV footage taken from the Oakley Meta glasses but, again, no reference to the AI.
“The talk about AI covers everything from existential horror to people’s opinions,” wrote Meta Chief Marketing Officer Denise Moreno in a post on LinkedIn. “With all the noise, it’s easy to feel like the future is headed toward less connectivity and less agency. We’re taking a different stance: we think AI will empower people to do more of what they love. As we move into this next wave of AI, we’re continuing that work and doing everything we can to make sure the future belongs to everyone.”
Meta may believe that the future is “everyone’s,” but Moreno clearly felt differently at the moment. He has limited comments on his posts.
