Meta is developing an artificial intelligence version of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, that could interact directly with employees, as part of a broader push to embed AI across the company.
According to the Financial Times, the AI-powered character could “offer conversation and feedback to employees,” giving staff a way to engage with a digital version of the CEO without needing direct access to him.
The project is still in its early stages, but Meta has reportedly begun prioritising a Zuckerberg AI persona, trained on his “mannerisms, tone and publicly available statements,” as well as his recent thinking on company strategy.
The idea reflects a bigger shift inside Meta: turning leadership, knowledge, and decision-making into systems that can scale.
According to the report, people familiar with the matter say Zuckerberg is personally involved in training and testing the AI, spending hours each week coding and reviewing internal AI projects.
The company is also exploring a separate “CEO agent” designed to assist Zuckerberg himself, helping retrieve information quickly and support his day-to-day work.
The Zuckerberg AI project ties into Meta’s broader ambition to build what the CEO has described as “personal superintelligence,” as it races to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google.
As part of that push, Meta recently released a “purpose-built” AI model designed for use across its products, with capabilities in areas like reasoning and visual understanding. Investors responded positively, sending the company’s stock higher following the announcement.
This isn’t Meta’s first attempt at AI characters.
In 2023, the company launched chatbots with personalities based on celebrities like Snoop Dogg, alongside tools that allowed users and creators to build AI versions of themselves.
But those efforts sparked controversy after some users created inappropriate or unsafe content, raising concerns about moderation and child safety. Meta has since restricted access to some of these features, particularly for younger users.
Internally, Meta is pushing employees to adopt AI tools more aggressively.
Staff are being encouraged to build and use AI agents to automate tasks, while product managers are being asked to complete an AI-focused “skills baseline exercise,” including technical system design tests and so-called “vibe coding.”
While Meta says the initiative is meant to identify training needs, some employees reportedly worry it could signal deeper changes, including potential job cuts.
Building realistic AI humans comes with technical hurdles.
Meta is working on photorealistic 3D characters that can interact in real time, but scaling that technology requires significant computing power and low-latency systems to avoid lag. The company has also invested in voice technology to improve how these characters sound and respond.
If successful, the Zuckerberg experiment could go beyond internal use—potentially allowing executives, influencers, and creators to build AI versions of themselves to interact with audiences at scale.
That raises new questions about authenticity, accountability, and what it means to “talk” to a person in an AI-first workplace.
David Adubiina
