Three weeks after Facebook declined to remove a doctored video that appeared to make Nancy Pelosi sound slurred, its CEO is taking revenge through Instagram posts featuring deepfakes featuring himself featuring real news footage merged with fake audio.
This video, created by artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe working with advertising company Canny AI, is set in broadcast chyrons to resemble real remarks by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2017.
1. Mark Zuckerberg at the D8 Conference
At his first D8 Conference appearance in June, Mark Zuckerberg appeared twitchy and sweating profusely. When answering questions regarding Facebook’s recent privacy scandal with short, nonspecific answers.
He acknowledged Facebook had made “stupid mistakes,” while emphasizing how their company would “improve” in the future. Unfortunately, however, he stumbled over basic points about their mission and business model – in addition to trying too hard to convince his audience they were on the right path.
Zuckerberg managed to come out strong despite the uncomfortable situation he was placed in, however. He praised Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ ability to respond swiftly when challenged by reporters. Furthermore, he disclosed what was inside his black hoodie sweatshirt: a screen printed message of the company mission statement along with three strange arrows labeled GRAPH, STREAM and PLATFORM that appear like secret cult insignias (hint: it looks similar).
Zuckerberg was raised in a comfortable and well-educated family in Dobbs Ferry, New York, before attending Harvard and co-founding Facebook – now with over two billion users – with co-founder Eduardo Saverin. After leaving college after his sophomore year to focus on this site’s growth and become its administrator full-time, its success made him into an overnight billionaire multiple times over. Its early founding was depicted by Aaron Sorkin’s 2010 film ‘The Social Network’s early origins’ (also written by Aaron Sorkin).
2. Mark Zuckerberg at the M Team Meeting
Zuckerberg recently provided employees with videos in which he addressed some of the pressing concerns facing Facebook, such as its culture following recent events and any potential layoffs at the company.
The company has come under scrutiny over accusations of political misinformation and its CEO has had to testify before Congress several times this year. Conservative critics such as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused him of operating as a monopoly while Fox News host Tucker Carlson has called them out as being responsible for “the death of free speech in America.”
Zuckerberg has taken steps to address employee concerns by holding town hall meetings. On one such call, he spoke directly with Meta employees who inquired about recent layoffs; acknowledging their loss while promising transparency between employees.
He took some questions from employees regarding Meta’s pay for some of its top executives, who received bonuses even as the company lost money. Although the situation was undoubtedly difficult, he understood he had no other choice but to make such difficult decisions due to macroeconomic factors and global volatility; yet was confident Meta would overcome its challenges in due time.
3. Mark Zuckerberg at the D8 Conference
At the 2010 D8: All Things Digital conference, Mark Zuckerberg arrived onstage visibly sweaty and under immense scrutiny regarding Facebook’s privacy issues and found himself under fire from questioning, struggling to provide clear responses while appearing distracted and offering vague responses instead. Some reviews of the event indicate he may have given vague or noncommittal replies which ultimately left many unsatisfied with his answers.
Though at times his answers stumbled, Zuckerberg eventually found his footing later on in the interview. He addressed how Facebook can shape the future of the web in ways not previously possible and took questions on its decision-making processes; such as A/B testing used to make decisions similar to how Google and Microsoft make theirs; in addition claiming they have an explicit management structure.
Even with his best efforts, Zuckerberg fell short of convincing people. Still, he managed to transform Facebook into one of the most profitable businesses ever and still retains numerous fans, even amid privacy controversies. Recently he posted a picture featuring himself with two professional MMA fighters with captioning that stated “No Fugazi with Mark- This Is Serious Business”. That post reached 12.1 Million Instagram users.
4. Mark Zuckerberg at the M Team Meeting
Mark Zuckerberg has had ample opportunity to hone his leadership skills since founding and leading Facebook as its founder and CEO, including making controversial policy decisions, overseeing layoffs at his company, and leaving his mark in the metaverse. Outside work however, his activities have been more scattered; such as learning Mandarin Chinese language from scratch while touring America (some observers perceive this tour as preparation for an abortive presidential bid), learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu or simply exploring his interests further afield.
Recently, he’s undertaken an ambitious new challenge: using generative AI to generate text, draw pictures, and create media that resemble human output. This set of machine learning techniques has emerged as big tech companies and venture-backed startups compete to show advances in artificial intelligence (AI). They offer tools that allow AI systems to create content.
Zuckerberg has also been busy on the business front. Notable among these activities were his announcement of a partnership with Microsoft and launch of a metaverse platform for businesses. Additionally, he’s working to improve Facebook’s recommendation engine in an attempt to compete with short-form video platform TikTok. During a virtual town hall Thursday involving employees reportedly facing layoffs, as well as taking questions from these employees at virtual town hall call. In response, Zuckerberg indicated he expected “efficiency reductions” across organizations and that affected workers would receive 16 weeks pay plus two additional weeks pay and full health coverage for six months from this call.