Mark Zuckerberg raises eyebrows after announcing efforts to pursue 'superintelligence' AI: 'It is worth anything to prevent that'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly on a "spending spree" to stay competitive on the artificial intelligence front, according to The New York Times.

What's happening?

Much like Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley tech titans "disrupted" industries as their stars rose, AI is now disrupting that disruption.

As the AI sector advances at a rapid clip, companies are scrambling to ensure they have sufficient skin in the game, and Meta is no different.

According to the Times,  Zuckerberg is "chasing a hypothetically godlike technology called 'superintelligence.'"

But the Times' reporting, much of it sourced from anonymous individuals with knowledge of Meta's AI projects, hinted that the company was in panic mode as other firms outpaced it. The paper cited an April conference where Meta's latest AI tech underperformed, lacking promised features and leaving attendees "underwhelmed." 

That high-profile loss of face purportedly prompted Zuckerberg to circle Meta's top wagons and "kicked off a frenzy of activity that has reverberated across Silicon Valley," the Times said. Zuckerberg benched his generative AI chief and poured more than $14 billion into an AI startup.

Moreover, the paper reported that Zuckerberg tried to poach 45 AI researchers from Sam Altman's OpenAI — the firm behind ChatGPT — "offering them compensation packages as high as $100 million each."

Menlo Ventures partner Mark Murphy spoke to the Times about Zuckerberg's fear of being left out. "He is like a lot of CEOs at big tech companies who are telling themselves that AI is going to be the biggest thing they have seen in their lifetime, and if they don't figure out how to become a big player in it, they are going to be left behind," he said. 

"It is worth anything to prevent that," Murphy added.

Why does Meta's AI focus matter so much?

AI has transcended "buzzword" status but not without massive controversy on a whole host of fronts, from ethics and job loss to disinformation and its environmental impact.

The latter issue — generative AI's impact on the environment — is perhaps the most worrisome, in part because the technology is advancing so quickly. Quantifying its use of resources is kind of like aiming at a moving target.

Generative AI consumes a vast amount of energy, much of which is generated by dirty fuel, and the gigantic data centers that power it burn through water at an alarming rate.

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In February 2024, Yale Environment 360 estimated that by 2026, generative AI would consume "1,000 terawatts" of electricity, an amount "roughly Japan's total consumption." The same article indicated Google's water consumption was up 20% between 2022 and 2023 because of the technology.

Meta is not just the parent company of Facebook — the globally popular WhatsApp and Instagram are under its umbrella, too.

By all accounts, Meta's focus on the AI development race is burning through money and employees, and if the company goes all in on the technology, the resulting strain on resources would likely be significant.

What's being done about the impact of generative AI?

Broadly, AI has been applied in many ways to combat rising temperatures, and the technology has been harnessed to support a greener world.

Solar power could go a long way when it comes to offsetting the energy consumed by generative AI, since clean energy would reduce harmful carbon pollution as the tech becomes more common.

On the upside, Meta has hinted at building a solar farm to generate energy for its AI products — though whether the company will follow through with the concept remains to be seen.

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