[atonse]

When I read that the dude was asked to take $2b from reality labs and spend it on AI, I was shocked… that they were still spending $2b on virtual reality nonsense in 2025.

That said, from what I understand, X is working on using grok to improve the algorithm.

Why can’t fb do the same and coexist?

[apercu]

Meta prints money as an ad company but clearly resents being one.

VR was a ~$100B+ attempt to buy pivot, and it’s generated ~single-digit billions in revenue. The tech worked maybe, but the vibe sucked, and the problem was that people don’t want to live or work there. Also, Meta leadership personalities are toxic to a lot of people.

Now they’re doing the same thing with AI e.g., throw money at it, overpay new talent, and force an identity shift from the top. Longterm employees are still well paid, just not AI gold rush paid which is gunna create fractures.

The irony is Meta already had what most AI companies don’t in distribution, data, and monetization. AI could have been integrated into revenue products instead of treated as a second escape from ads.

You can’t typically buy your way out of your business model. Especially with a clear lack of vision. Yes, dood got lucky in a couple acquisitions, but so would you if you were throwing billions around.

[ribosometronome]

>clearly resents being one.

Do they? It seems to me that they're just aware that social media and the internet is trendy and they need to be out there ready to control the next big thing if they want to put ads on it. Facebook has been dying for years. Instagram makes them more ad revenue per user than FB but it's not the most popular app of its class.

[lotsofpulp]

I imagine Whatsapp contains a lot of potential revenue.

[matthewdgreen]

A lot of potential revenue to be exploited by agentic AI, if you do things exactly right.

[apercu]

I may attribute this to a single individual in charge. I think he is very mad that he is an advertiser.

[sota_pop]

I for one have been trying to use the term “ad tech” in lieu of “big tech/faang/etc.” for a couple of years now hoping it will catch.

[e2021]

Doesn't really make sense though because only two of "FAANG" actually get significant of their revenue from advertising?

[loeg]

Bro they spend $4B on RL every quarter.

[leptons]

Well it's probably nowhere near the size of the money-pit that "AI" currently is in.

[nl]

You realize that AI is driving huge advertising growth at Meta, right?

> Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported strong second-quarter 2025 earnings, driven primarily by robust advertising revenue growth. Total revenue reached US$47.52 billion, up 22% from last year, with advertising accounting for $46.56 billion, an increase of 21%, surpassing Wall Street expectations. The growth was fuelled by an 11% rise in ad impressions across Meta’s Family of Apps and a 9% increase in the average ad price. Net income climbed 36% to $18.34 billion, marking ten consecutive quarters of profit outperformance. The Family of Apps segment generated $47.15 billion in revenue and $24.97 billion in operating income, while Reality Labs posted a $4.53 billion operating loss.

> Much of this growth is credited to Meta’s AI advancements in its advertising offerings, such as smarter ad recommendations and campaign automation. Currently, over 4 million advertisers use the AI-powered Advantage+ campaigns, achieving a 22% improvement in returns. Building on this success, Meta plans to enable brands to fully create and target ads using AI by the end of 2026.

(emphasis mine)

https://www.campaignasia.com/article/metas-q2-ad-revenue-bea...

[leptons]

You realize that Zuck is trying to produce AGI, which is a money pit deeper than anything he's ever thrown money away on.

[lawlessone]

>from what I understand, X is working on using grok to improve the algorithm.

>Why can’t fb do the same and coexist?

I'm sorry ,but what does this mean? Like are they prompting grok for suggestions on improvements? or having it write code? or something else?

[qingcharles]

I still don't think Meta is wrong about VR. It's just still not the year for it. (I know the market has been saying that for 30 years)

[laweijfmvo]

if you think Meta RL loses money wait until OpenAI goes public