Zuckerberg will replace himself with an AI copy when communicating with subordinates - FT

Meta Corporation is preparing to launch a digital double of Mark Zuckerberg based on artificial intelligence, which will take over part of communications with the company's employees, the Financial Times has learned. According to its sources, the Facebook founder is personally training and testing his AI avatar.

Meta is working on the development of photorealistic three-dimensional characters based on AI, with which it will be possible to interact in real time, four sources told the FT. According to three of them, the development of an AI copy of the corporation's head Mark Zuckerberg has been prioritized recently. One of the newspaper's sources said that Zuckerberg is personally involved in training and testing an animated version, which in the future will be able to have conversations with staff instead of his prototype. The FT source added that the algorithm is being trained based on the billionaire's characteristic mannerisms, tone of voice, public statements, and his fresh ideas about corporate strategy, so that when interacting with the bot, subordinates will feel a closer connection to the founder.

According to the publication's interlocutors, Zuckerberg himself is taking an increasingly active part in the development of AI-direction: he spends from five to ten hours a week writing program code for various Meta AI projects and is present at technical reviews.

The development of new characters, according to people familiar with the matter, is being handled by the recently formed Superintelligence Labs division. According to sources, the developers' efforts are focused on creating photorealistic embodiments. However, the realization of this idea has proven difficult: the technology requires huge computing power to achieve realism and prevent delays when communicating with users, the article emphasizes.

Zuckerberg has spent billions of dollars over the past year to develop a "personal superintelligence" and catch up with AI competitors including OpenAI and Google. On April 8, Meta released Muse Spark for use in the company's products. Meta's stock rose 7% in a day after the release.

In September 2023, Meta also launched the Meta AI assistant and a series of chatbots with the characters of rapper Snoop Dogg and other celebrities. Subsequently, the corporation allowed content creators to generate their own characters through the AI Studio platform. However, users began creating sexually explicit characters, which raised concerns among the public and regulators about the safety of children, recalls the FT. To avoid a scandal, Meta had to restrict teenagers' access to the feature.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor