Meta’s New Feel-Good AI Ad Uses a Song About the World Ending - WIRED

What the report says

Wired reports that Meta posted a new artificial intelligence advertisement to its official Instagram account on Thursday, presenting an optimistic message that AI will not make people “less connected” or leave them behind. The ad shows upbeat family and public scenes, including a toddler with a butterfly, parents with an infant and Jalen Brunson at a Knicks championship parade, while promoting human-centered uses of Meta’s technology, including smart glasses.

The notable creative choice, according to Wired, is the soundtrack: David Bowie’s 1972 song “Five Years.” The portion used in Meta’s clip includes lyrics about crowded memories, technology and many kinds of people, but the full song is widely associated with an apocalyptic premise. Wired notes that the song’s opening describes news that Earth has only five years left and is “really dying.”

Meta spokesperson Francis Brennan told Wired the company wanted to point to Bowie’s own comments framing the song as connected to optimism about the future. Wired also cites BowieBible.com, which describes the track as a dystopian account of Earth’s final years, and a later comment from drummer Mick Woodmansey saying the band understood it as being about the end of the world.

The article places the ad within a broader pattern of technology companies using emotional campaigns to address public anxiety over AI and other emerging products. Wired compares Meta’s spot with recent ads from Anthropic, Google and FTX, arguing that such campaigns reveal how tech companies are trying to build goodwill around products that many people remain uneasy about.