April 17, 2026
As Creepy as it Gets
OK, well, he makes my point for me. Am I going to slap those on my face?
Are you? Wow.
One of the creepier things I’ve read lately is this:
Meta (META) is building an artificial intelligence version of Mark Zuckerberg that can engage with employees in his stead, as part of a broader push to remake the Big Tech company around AI.
Read that again…
Here is the entire article:
https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/meta-builds-ai-version-mark-040004225.html
Look, I don’t even want to engage with the real Mark, let alone the AI Mark.
I think I’d just be tongue-tied, staring at Mark (or is AI Mark?), wondering what to say. “Hey, I know real Mark likes Thai food, but do you?”
Gentle readers, Mark is clearly a Geekoid. I know because I am one and I can sense the symptoms somewhat automatically. Things are viewed in a sterile sense, with lots of verbiage that indicates that. Simple thing…in Mark Geekoid world, you “engage” with others, you don’t discuss with others, converse with others. And heavens…never “argue.” Engage, kind of an easy smiley thing but with hidden hooks and sharp blades.
Does he imagine a world in which no one speaks with anyone? AI Tony calls AI Mark, and we engage. I think AI Tony then reports back to Real Tony, but I’m not sure. Maybe AI Tony then utilizes some AI thing to buy a pizza (more likely) from an AI Mark approved vendor. So, AI Tony calls AI Vinny and engages. Somewhere in this entire process, there is a guy, not tossing the dough, but supervising all the AI Dough Tossers, AI Joe, AI Al (they call it “Ayal”), AI Gino.
Eventually, I presume Real Tony gets to eat the pizza, but I’m not yet sure about that one either.
For sure, I can be sure that AI Mark passes some resulting coin over to Real Mark.
If you carry this far enough, you arrive at a dystopian world devoid of human relationships. You can sit at home, send all your AI versions out into the world to interact with their AI counterparts. You don’t have to speak with anyone. Your food is delivered via Waymo by a robot. You sit and eat it and then eventually wind up with your AI Doctor dealing with gout from a lack of activity.
Me personally, am not worried about all of this. Other than the inconvenience of dealing with less-than-perfect AI stuff, I am choosing not to play in that world. I’m going to get in my car and start the engine and drive to Publix and buy the chicken and fix Chicken Milanese because it is fun and in part makes me human.
That is, I want to engage, but I want to engage with the real world and with real people. Not bots, not some goofy guy with Smart Glasses between thee and me. Not an AI algorithm.
It’s like this stuff here…I could have AI write a pretty close proximity of my writing style. Just train it on lots of examples and then, give it a subject, ask for 1000 words and wait for the output.
Two problems with that. First, I think it cheats you as a reader. Second, it cheats me as a writer. Other than that, is it fine?
I do use AI, but I limit it to straight research of facts, not creative writing and analysis. And I write Claude when I do to identify it clearly.
I leave creative writing and analysis to my own brain and experience which does not require Smart Glasses to dumb me down.
So, as this begins to unfold over the next few years, just remember that you have a choice. You can remain in the analog/digital world where we are now, or you can put on those goofy glasses and go into Mark’s Metaverse.
If you do, let me know how that goes for you but please, don’t have the AI You contact me. Because I don’t have an AI Tony and so, I’d have to deal with the AI Idiot myself. Plus, if you’re in a bar wearing those things and staring at me, I am going to creep out. I am just going to. Fair warning.
Thoughts, questions, or reflections? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me anytime at anthony@workingprofit.com
