Kamal Ghorui
Facebook-parent Meta is reportedly developing an artificial intelligence-powered version of its CEO Mark Zuckerberg that can interact with employees in his place. According to a report by Financial Times, the project is part of Meta’s broader push to embed AI deeply into its products and operations. The FT report suggests that the company is working on photorealistic, 3D AI characters capable of real-time interaction. While Meta has experimented with celebrity-inspired chatbots and user-generated AI personas, insiders say the focus has now shifted to building a Zuckerberg character trained on his mannerisms, tone, and public statements. This goal of the company will enable the employees to feel more connected to the founder, even when he is not present physically.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s hands-on role
Mark Zuckerberg is personally involved in the training and testing of his AI version. As per the report he has been spending around five to ten hours a week coding on AI projects and is also attending technical reviews. This effort of Zuckerberg is separate from his ‘CEO agent’ project, which is made to support him by retrieving information quickly.
Meta’s AI spending spree
Meta has invested billion in AI over the past year, promising to develop “personal superintelligence” and compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google. Recently, the company introduced Muse Spark, a small, purpose-built AI model with advanced reasoning and visual capabilities, which boosted Meta’s stock by 7%. Muse Spark can help users with everyday tasks such as calculating the calories in a meal from a photo or superimposing an image of a mug on a shelf to see how it looks. Meta also released Contemplating mode, which runs multiple agents at one time to boost reasoning power. For instance, while planning a family vacation for a user, one agent can draft a travel itinerary and the other can look up kid-friendly activities.
Employees push and concerns
The report further states that Meta is also encouraging the employees internally to adopt AI tools, including open-source agentic software and custom-built automation agents. Product managers are undergoing AI-focused skill assessments, though some employees fear this could foreshadow job cuts. Meta insists the exercises are meant for training and development, not layoffs.
