How AI Replaced the Metaverse as Zuckerberg’s Top Priority
Meta’s founder has become deeply engaged in his company’s AI efforts ahead of its 20th anniversary, but his close attention hasn’t always proved to be a recipe for success.
New year, new Zuck.
Photo Illustration: 731; Photos: Bloomberg; Getty Images
In the summer of 2021, during a private moment at the Allen & Co. conference in the Idaho mountains, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai complimented Mark Zuckerberg on a technological breakthrough by Facebook’s artificial intelligence team.
Pichai’s comment was exactly the kind of thing Zuckerberg likes to hear. For one of the most prominent people in Silicon Valley, the co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms Inc. can be surprisingly touchy about getting recognition for being someone who actually makes technology. A decade earlier, a Hollywood blockbuster suggested that he stole the idea for Facebook, and many of his company’s most important products were made by startups it acquired, opening Zuckerberg up to the narrative that he’s more ruthless businessperson than innovative technologist. His communications team, which has done focus group polling showing he isn’t considered an innovator on par with Bill Gates or Elon Musk, has worked to brand him as a “builder,” according to people at the company who’ve worked on improving his personal image.