Meta's AI Ad Echoes End-of-World Anthem
On Thursday morning, Meta published a compelling new advertisement to its official Instagram account, asserting that artificial intelligence will neither "make us less connected" nor "leave us behind." This message of technological optimism, however, was set to the backdrop of David Bowie's 1972 track "Five Years," a song widely interpreted as a narrative about the end of the world.
The ad features a sequence of heartwarming scenes: a toddler engaging with a butterfly, two parents laughing with their infant, and a celebratory moment with NBA star Jalen Brunson waving at a fictional Knicks Championship Parade. A narrator's voice underscores the company's conviction, stating, "Call us optimists, call us dreamers, call us whatever the hell you want—but we’re betting on people, and we like those odds." The campaign also strategically showcases use cases for Meta's smart glasses, highlighting less controversial applications over more contentious ones.
The Discordant Soundtrack: "Five Years" and AI's Promise
By Decode Today News
The chosen snippet from "Five Years" includes lyrics such as "I heard telephones, opera house, favorite melodies / I saw boys, toys, electric irons and TVs / My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare / I had to cram so many things to store everything in there." Notably, the ad omits the song's opening, which sets a decidedly somber tone: "News had just come over / We had five years left to cry in / News guy wept and told us / Earth was really dying." This selective use has prompted discussion regarding the ad's underlying message and Meta's broader strategy in communicating its vision for Artificial Intelligence.
When pressed for comment, Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan offered an explanation, citing David Bowie's own words regarding the song's meaning. Brennan provided a 1972 quote, sourced from NME Magazine via BowieBible.com, where Bowie expressed a desire "to turn the feeling the other way, into a wave of optimism" regarding anxieties about the future. The late artist stated, "People are so incredibly serious and scared of the future that I would wish to turn the feeling the other way, into a wave of optimism. If one can take the micky out of the future, and what it is going to be like … It’s going to be unbelievably technological."
However, BowieBible.com itself provides a more traditional interpretation, noting that the song "speaks of a dystopian nightmare in which Earth enters its final five years, for reasons undisclosed, and the ensuing panic, violence, and attempts at redemption." This perspective is further supported by comments from drummer Mick Woodmansey in a 2018 interview, where he recounted, "Well, we chatted about it, and we knew it was about the end of the world and pretty depressing. I remember when we recorded it, he was actually in tears. He was doing the vocal and he was actually crying." The disparity between Meta's optimistic framing and the song's common interpretation raises questions about the ad's conceptual coherence.
Contextual Challenges in Tech Advertising
The practice of taking songs out of their original context for commercial purposes is not unprecedented in advertising. Jeremy D. Larson, deputy director of Pitchfork, highlights this as a "time-honored tradition," referencing a Carnival Cruise ad that controversially used an Iggy Pop song associated with heroin addiction. Larson also noted that Warner Chappell Music, as owners of Bowie’s catalog, holds discretion over the song's commercial placements.
Larson expressed a strong view on Meta's choice, telling WIRED over Slack, "Meta choosing this specific song where the context for human connection is the apocalypse seems either really ignorant or really insidious. I don't know, maybe in that context it's genius." He further emphasized a sense of artistic dissonance, remarking, "Hearing [Bowie’s] work used for AI just feels especially and specifically nonconsensual." This sentiment underscores a growing concern among some critics regarding the ethical implications of how iconic artistic works are utilized to shape public perception of emerging technologies, particularly those with profound societal implications like advanced AI infrastructure.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, echoed the company's broader mission in a post about the ad, stating that the company is "focused on giving every person the tools to reach your full potential and making sure the benefits of technology are distributed to everyone." This aligns with the company's objective to foster a positive public perception of AI as a tool for empowerment and connection.
Understanding the Nuances of AI Communication
The tech industry has, over recent years, embarked on numerous high-profile campaigns designed to alleviate public anxieties surrounding rapid technological advancement. These campaigns often attempt to shift narratives from potential risks to the transformative benefits, crucial for driving consumer demand and market valuation in the burgeoning AI sector.
Consider the advertising landscape for new technologies:
- Anthropic's "There’s hope in hard questions" (2024): This ad commenced with a stark image of a burning building and posed the question, "Who’s gonna hit the brakes if we need to?" followed by a flash of graves, before gradually transitioning to an optimistic tone. It concluded with evocative questions like, "What if we started to be more human again?" over comforting images of families and nature, attempting to address cybersecurity risk and ethical concerns head-on.
- Google's Gemini Ad (2024): A more perplexing campaign showed a father using Gemini, its conversational AI, to draft a letter from his aspiring athlete daughter to Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. This ad sought to demonstrate the practical, personal utility of AI, though its connection to the product's core capabilities was subtle.
- FTX's Super Bowl Ad (2022): The now-infamous ad featured Larry David comically dismissing revolutionary inventions throughout history, from the toilet to the lightbulb, before ultimately dismissing FTX itself. The tagline "Don't be like Larry. Don't miss out on crypto, on NFTs, on the next big thing" aimed to provoke engagement. Tragically, FTX filed for bankruptcy just nine months later, illustrating the volatile nature of public trust and compliance security in new tech ventures.
These diverse approaches highlight the complexities tech companies face in building goodwill for AI and other cutting-edge innovations. While it is understandable that companies employ every available tool to bolster their public image and promote their products, these campaigns also reveal an underlying challenge: many tech firms are struggling to independently convince the public that their innovations are not, in fact, exacerbating global problems. The strategic use of media, including iconic music, becomes a critical component in shaping these perceptions, particularly in an era where the ethical development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence are under intense scrutiny.
