Mark Zuckerberg is pouring billions of dollars into AI ‘superintelligence’—so why does his Instagram pitch feel so underwhelming?

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDavid Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a new Instagram on Tuesday morning, laying out the vision behind the company’s new AI initiative: Meta Superintelligence Labs

The goal, he said, is to build “personal superintelligence for everyone.” Zuckerberg acknowledged that AI is rapidly advancing and that we’re beginning to see “glimpses of AI systems imving themselves.” Superintelligence (a vague term that typically refers to AI that vastly surpasses human capabilities in virtually all domains, including scientific creativity, general wisdom, and social skills) is now “in sight,” he added, which begs what he called a big open question: What should we direct superintelligence toward? While rival AI companies focus on scientific or economic breakthroughs, Zuckerberg explained, his vision is decidedly micro, aimed at the individual, not at society writ large

He wants to build a personalized AI that helps you “achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, be a better friend, and grow to become the person that you aspire to be.” It’s a pitch that, unsurprisingly, aligns with what Meta has always built: consumer-facing experiences designed to keep people engaged—and sell more ads

In Zuckerberg’s telling, AI won’t upend the social order or redefine civilization—it’ll accelerate existing trends

In looking at previous nological revolutions, such as the mechanization of agriculture, which allowed far fewer farmers to duce all the food the world needs, Zuckerberg said that “Most people have decided to use their newfound ductivity to spend more time on creativity, culture, relationships, and just enjoying life

I expect superintelligence to accelerate this trend even more.” To Zuckerberg, that means a future of AI-infused personal devices—specifically, augmented-reality glasses that can “see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day.” Meta already makes a version of such glasses in conjunction with Ray Ban

The next phase of computing, in his view, isn’t unlocking scientific frontiers—it’s helping people connect, create, and wear Meta hardware

It’s hard not to compare Zuckerberg’s parochial vision to the kind of big-picture thinking that once defined Silicon Valley

When Apple founder Steve Jobs described the computer as “a bicycle for the mind,” he offered a metaphor that felt found—nology as a tool for human advancement

Zuckerberg, by contrast, imagines superintelligence as a pair of Ray-Bans that help you…be a better friend? Even among today’s AI leaders, this mission seems strangely small

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman talks human flourishing (whatever that means) and rearchitecting society

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis wants to unlock the secrets of the universe

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes AI could be the most important tool in human history—if it doesn’t destroy us first

Zuckerberg? It sounds he just wants you to make better Reels

This creates a striking disconnect

The scale of the investment suggests world-changing ambition

The actual pitch—personal AI in smart glasses—doesn’t quite measure up

Shouldn’t Meta at least nod to, say, curing cancer? To be fair, superintelligence is still such an abstract idea that even the grandest mises helping humanity can sound hollow or amorphous

Still, don’t even the best-paid reers need to be inspired by the mission? In an accompanying blog post, Zuckerberg acknowledged the risks of superintelligence, saying it will “raise novel safety concerns” and that Meta will have to be “rigorous mitigating these risks.” He also framed the coming years in stark terms: “The rest of this decade seems ly to be the decisive period for determining the path this nology will take, and whether superintelligence will be a tool for personal empowerment or a force focused on replacing large swaths of society,” he wrote

However, one might hope a vision for superintelligence would go beyond personal empowerment towards broader societal good

It’s that Meta has the resources, and the will, to build the infrastructure for the future of AI and superintelligence

Whether it can build a meaningful reason for it remains an open question

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