Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been busy lately making moves that he hopes will help his company catch up to the AI bubble that Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft are currently leading.
His latest ploy for Meta’s AI, as laid out in a personal, open letter published July 31 (via Tom’s Hardware) mere hours before the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call, is something Zuckerberg calls “personal superintelligence.”
Within the letter, Zuckerberg explains that in the past few months, there have been glimpses of “AI systems improving themselves” and that “developing superintelligence is now in sight.”
While Zuckerberg admits that “superintelligence” progress is still slow, he likens the progress to that of farming, where just 200 years ago, around 90% of people spent their time growing food to survive.
I am extremely optimistic that superintelligence will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress. But perhaps even more important is that superintelligence has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions they choose.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO
With massive agricultural outfits now capable of growing and harvesting enough food to feed growing populations, the average person now has more time to spend on other pursuits. It’s a common argument that I often hear mentioned by those with a stake in AI, and I recognize that it ignores many of the complexities of our modern ag societies and the food we’re eating.
Regardless, Zuckerberg is seemingly taking Meta all-in on personal superintelligence as a way to return AI’s power to the people.
As posited in the letter, Zuckerberg doesn’t believe Meta should be directing its AI power centrally, where it will “automate all valuable work” and have the rest of us living off of some form of Universal Basic Income (UBI).
“The intersection of technology and how people live is Meta’s focus, and this will only become more important in the future,” says Zuckerberg. Whether this course-correction arrives as a personal Zuckerberg decision or one that helps Meta remain relevant as it lags behind the likes of Google and OpenAI in terms of raw AI power, I can’t say.
Zuckerberg’s open letter comes just a month after the announcement of Meta Superintelligence Labs, in which the CEO shared similar sentiments about its purpose to beneficially entangle AI with everyday human actions.
This is distinct from others in the industry who believe superintelligence should be directed centrally towards automating all valuable work, and then humanity will live on a dole of its output.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO
Meta has reportedly been busy poaching OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind members to help build this new team, which is co-led by the CEO of Scale AI (handed a $14.3 billion investment from Meta), Alexandr Wang, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.
This is all seemingly to help Meta build a foundation for its AI vision. As Zuckerberg states in the letter:
“The rest of this decade seems likely to be the decisive period for determining the path this technology will take, and whether superintelligence will be a tool for personal empowerment or a force focused on replacing large swaths of society.”
With a recent Microsoft report outlining how AI is keen to kill at least 40 job roles, Zuckerberg’s course correction for Meta does seem like a bit of relief. It’s no secret that AI is taking jobs, and other leaders in the AI space haven’t been so optimistic.
Anthropic’s CEO has stated that AI will cut 50% of entry-level white collar work, Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates believes that AI will replace humans in most areas, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has said that “everybody’s jobs will be affected.”
It’s not looking good out there for a lot of industries, but Zuckerberg — who has had a fair share of grand visions that didn’t quite take off, including VR and the metaverse — remains positive:
“I am extremely optimistic that superintelligence will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress. But perhaps even more important is that superintelligence has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions they choose.
“Meta believes strongly in building personal superintelligence that empowers everyone. We have the resources and the expertise to build the massive infrastructure required, and the capability and will to deliver new technology to billions of people across our products. I’m excited to focus Meta’s efforts towards building this future.”
Meta’s Llama AI is clearly here to stay as the company pumps untold billions of dollars into the initiative, and whether this new course set by Zuckerberg is the right one remains to be seen.
Right now, as capitalism narrows and companies see many human employees as an overspend, a future where AI eliminates a massive swath of jobs seems a lot more realistic than one where superintelligent personal AI is standing by to help us get through the day.
