Zuckerberg Unveils 'Personal Superintelligence' & $72B Meta AI Spend
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled his vision for "personal superintelligence," outlining an individual empowerment strategy while committing substantial investments—up to $72 billion—to bolster Meta's AI infrastructure. This announcement, made via a new AI manifesto published on July 30, 2025, positions Meta's approach as distinct from others in the industry who believe superintelligence should be directed centrally towards automating all valuable work.
Zuckerberg's manifesto emphasizes that a "personal superintelligence" will help individuals achieve their goals, foster creativity, enhance connections, and lead more fulfilling lives. He believes this will mark a new era of personal empowerment, where people have greater agency to improve the world in directions they choose. This vision contrasts with the idea of a centralized superintelligence that automates all valuable work, suggesting instead that human progress has always stemmed from individuals pursuing their aspirations.
To realize this ambitious vision, Meta is making significant financial commitments. The company has raised the lower end of its full-year capital expenditure forecast to $66 billion, with a total range spanning up to $72 billion for 2025, primarily to fund AI infrastructure, including servers, data centers, and related technologies. This substantial investment underscores Meta's determination to build the massive infrastructure required for its AI endeavors. Meta's Q2 2025 earnings showed strong performance, with revenue of $47.5 billion and net income of $18.3 billion, which Zuckerberg stated is largely thanks to AI unlocking greater efficiency and gains across their ad system. This advertising revenue is crucial for funding Meta's AI ambitions.
A key component of Meta's strategy for delivering personal superintelligence involves personal devices like augmented reality (AR) glasses and virtual reality (VR) headsets. Zuckerberg stated that these glasses, which can see what users see, hear what they hear, and interact throughout the day, will become primary computing devices. Sales of Meta AI glasses, developed in partnership with Ray-Ban and other eyewear makers, reportedly jumped 200% in the first half of 2025.
Meta has also been aggressively recruiting top AI talent, forming a Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) team in early July 2025. This includes a $14.8 billion investment in data-labeling firm Scale AI, with its CEO, Alexandr Wang, joining to lead AGI development. While Meta has historically championed open-source AI with its Llama models, Zuckerberg's recent statements hint at a more cautious approach to openness for advanced models due to safety concerns. He emphasized the need to be rigorous about mitigating risks and careful about what they choose to open source, a potential shift from their previous strategy of making their most advanced models open.
Despite the massive investments and ambitious goals, Meta's Reality Labs division, which focuses on metaverse and AI projects, still posted a $4.5 billion operating loss in Q2 2025. However, analysts note that Meta's strong core business is funding its AI talent and infrastructure, positioning the company to maintain its competitive advantage in AI-driven products and services.