Mark Zuckerberg reportedly working on AI clone of himself — Meta insiders claim 3D photoreal animated Zuck will be able to engage with employees on his behalf
The AI clone was trained on the Meta CEO's public statements and strategies, and will respond in the CEO’s voice, including his mannerisms.
The very top job at Meta may periodically be delegated to an AI replica of Mark Zuckerberg. Will anyone notice? The FT reports that Meta is developing 3D, photoreal, AI-powered characters that users can interact with in real time – and the project has recently pivoted to prioritize an AI clone of the company CEO, according to three unnamed insiders.
Meta wishes to ‘dogfood’ its AI wares to gain a competitive advantage, and it shows confidence that this thrust extends to the very top echelons of the company.
Making an AI-generated Zuck clone is something of a pivot, as we mentioned in the intro. The FT says that Meta was busy with a project in which it was building a ‘CEO agent’ to support top execs like Zuckerberg day-to-day. However, this CEO-cloning project is separate and has become a priority, according to the report. Perhaps the boss wants to go on an extended holiday soon?
Article continues belowThe training of the now-prioritized Zuckerberg AI character has been shepherded by the Meta CEO. “The Meta chief is personally involved in training and testing his animated AI,” reports the FT. And the character “could offer conversation and feedback to employees, according to one person.”
As well as looking like the real Zuck, thanks to the 3D, photoreal, animated character that has been created, much deeper work is being done. The source report notes that the Zuck AI has been trained on his publicly available statements, his recent thinking on business strategy, and so on. That should provide a solid foundation for day-to-day Zuck-a-like reasoning. But the clone even replicates Zuckerberg’s mannerisms and tone, and will respond in the CEO’s voice, it is claimed.
The above initiative is part of Meta’s multibillion-dollar personal superintelligence push, which is hoped to help it compete better with the likes of OpenAI and Google. Employees are also being encouraged to use AI tools and agentic systems based on things like OpenClaw.
Meta’s prior AI character/chatbot work hasn’t been without issues and pratfalls. Users generating overtly sexualized characters prompted Meta to rein in access to its AI Studio character workshop at the start of 2026, for example.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
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Notton Well... Off the top of my head...Reply
Can't spell alien without ai
ditto lizard or reptilian
he even admits he's not human.
This video was before the advent of ai deepfakes.
2qGVVxaosDM -
usertests The company that blew $88 billion on off-brand VRChat (I'm sure the accountants lessened the impact) pivots to other out-of-touch and annoying trash.Reply -
bit_user Reply
I'm no fan of Zuckerberg, myself, but I think it's not good to spread dehumanizing claims about anyone, even in jest. Dehumanizing rhetoric has been a favorite tactic of populists and demagogues, throughout history. The first step of persecution is dehumanization.Notton said:Can't spell alien without ai
ditto lizard or reptilian
he even admits he's not human.
As for Zuckerbot, I think it's pretty much the epitome of hubris to think that what the world needs is a 24/7 always- available version of you that it can turn to, for a dose of your unique wisdom. -
bit_user Replyusertests said:The company that blew $88 billion on off-brand VRChatI was skeptical of their big VR bet, but sometimes companies have so much money that it's worth staking a bit of it on a bet like that. If they had been right that VR was the next big thing, rather than AI, that lead would've provided a good return on investment.
I also think it wasn't entirely wasted money. I just wish it had been spread a bit more broadly, throughout the VR ecosystem, rather than focusing so much on their own platform. -
thesyndrome For any Warhammer 40k fans out there: Is anyone else getting Cawl Inferior vibes? 😅Reply
https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cawl_InferiorThe Cawl Inferiors are machines that imitate a limited simulacrum of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl.
The Cawl Inferior is primarily programmed to emulate the voice and mannerisms of its creator: Belisarius Cawl.
The funny part is that this is considered disgusting and uncanny by anyone who interacts with it within the context of the story, which is what I bet the reactions of the Meta staff will be if they are forced to interact with it. -
tamalero Creating a clone of a sociopath billionaire who wants to control everything..Reply
what can go wrong.. right?
Before, people dying saved us from many sociopath and psychopathic leaders.
but a digital version?
yeah no.... -
Notton Reply
You should look up the difference between punching down vs. up when jokes are made.bit_user said:I'm no fan of Zuckerberg, myself, but I think it's not good to spread dehumanizing claims about anyone, even in jest. Dehumanizing rhetoric has been a favorite tactic of populists and demagogues, throughout history. The first step of persecution is dehumanization.
As for Zuckerbot, I think it's pretty much the epitome of hubris to think that what the world needs is a 24/7 always- available version of you that it can turn to, for a dose of your unique wisdom.
And then you should go look up if billionaires are a marginalized minority group.