In case you missed it, in a recent interview with Stratechery, Mark Zuckerberg described a pretty dismal future of advertising powered entirely by AI and dominated by Meta, naturally.
In his fantasy where Meta reigns supreme, he describes a future state in which Meta, with the power of AI, does it all—generates the photos and videos of a product, writes the ad copy, and assembles it all into infinite variations cycled through a process of measurement and iteration to optimize for purchase, which coincidentally also takes on his platform.
If this feels kinda gross, you’re not alone.
It’s helpful to remind ourselves that this hard pivot into AI advertising is coming from the same man who brought us the metaverse (flop), a previous pivot to video mired in false data, genocide, massive data breaches, and unchecked hate speech and misinformation that helped elect Donald Trump not once, but twice. There are reasons that a pivot away from Meta is slowly gaining ground.
Thinking about the role of AI in advertising
Marketing and advertising have always been a quirky blend of science and art. Big data and algorithmic media pushed hard in the science direction, hypercharging targeting capabilities. And possibly breaking our brains and society along the way (see above).
AI is here, and it’s great for automating and speeding up mundane tasks, and especially helpful with filtering and synthesizing large amounts of data. But is a full-scale takeover what anyone really wants? Or needs?
We’re not here to fearmonger (maybe a little) about AI, but we’re thinking about whether infinitely optimizable creative is worth the risks and human cost.
Does AI advertising align with your mission?
“We’re gonna be able to come up with, like, 4,000 different versions of your creative and just test them and figure out which one works best,” said Zuckerberg.
Just because you can throw endless AI slop at the wall and see what sticks in a wasteful exercise of testing infinite creative doesn’t mean you should. While it promises to be cheap, it could come at the cost of your reputation. Audiences are already skeptical and increasingly resentful of AI—just look at the backlash to every announcement from companies, most recently Duolingo, proudly replacing humans with machines.
Generative AI is filled with misinformation, racism, and myriad forms of bias, because the Internet is filled with misinformation, racism, and bias. To refer to it as “generative” AI feels misleading given its reliance on existing material. Regurgitative would seem more accurate, albeit less, well, marketable. Something tells us that the brains behind marketing AI isn’t AI.
And then there’s the environmental footprint. Researchers are doing what they can to measure and create accurate projections, but at the rate things are going, it doesn’t seem good. Data centers’ electricity consumption in 2026 is projected to reach 1,000 terawatts, roughly Japan’s total consumption.
Marketing was never a pure science. It’s about inspiring feelings that motivate actions. It’s a deeply human endeavor, especially for nonprofits.
This latest vision of the future from Meta is a healthy reminder that we could all benefit from loosening the algorithm’s grip on us. Are we suggesting abandoning Meta? Not just yet. But could it go the way of X? Possibly.
While headlines might claim Zuckerberg is “declaring war” on the advertising industry, it feels more like self-sabotage. Throwing endless iterations of AI-generated images and headlines at Meta users could be the next big step towards Meta’s Enshittification and ultimate decline, as they flee the platform for spaces where they feel safe sharing. Even Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, admitted years ago that users have moved on to direct messages, closed communities, and group chats.
Just like Myspace and Vine, Meta is not too big to fail. All social spaces are rented, and until you bring a supporter into your own space, that relationship is on borrowed time. We will always advise our clients to focus on owning their relationships. If you’re not taking steps to grow your email list, take this as your sign to start!
HelpGood is proudly human-powered, and we would never throw slop at the wall. We are relentlessly grounded in uncovering strategic insights that lead to messaging that sticks the first time. And when we really nail it, it can become a platform from which to grow upon for years to come.
If you’re curious about how to get started growing your community off the algorithms, drop us a line, we can help.
