Mother Jones illustration; Ryan Sun/AP
Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly making an AI clone of himself to provide feedback to his employees.
According to a Sunday night report by the Financial Times, sources said that Zuckerberg’s tech giant Meta is training an AI character on the CEO’s image and voice, as well as mannerisms, tone, and thoughts on company strategy “so that employees might feel more connected to the founder through interactions with it.”
The move is part of Meta’s push to catch up to competitors like Google and OpenAI in developing AI technology. According to the same Financial Times report, the company has been working on creating 3D AI avatars that users can converse with in real time, but has run into problems with scaling the technology as it requires massive amounts of computing power to seem real.
But those struggles haven’t stopped the company: if the Zuckerberg character works, influencers and creators could follow suit, according to FT.
Putting aside the creepiness of Meta making an AI clone of its CEO so that it can watch over all of its employees, this sounds similar to the ill-fated metaverse. Zuckerberg’s multi-billion-dollar failure to create “the future of connection” via virtual reality playground tanked spectacularly. Meta promised an immersive VR world where users could socialize, work, and play through online avatars. Zuckerberg went all-in on the metaverse, even re-naming his company Facebook to “Meta” in 2021 to note its commitment. But, despite the investment, the VR headsets did not take off and Meta’s VR platform Horizon Worlds is on its last legs.
Another dubious initiative in the name of “efficiency” from one of our so-called tech geniuses that we will likely pay for in jobs, data center resources, and all-around digital safety.
