Meta's AI Optimism Ad Soundtracked by David Bowie's Song About Human Extinction
· 4 min read ·
Meta has released a new advertisement promoting an optimistic vision of artificial intelligence, but the campaign has drawn attention for a striking contradiction: its soundtrack is a David Bowie song about the extinction of the human race.
The ad opens with a black-and-white close-up of an eye, scanning a barrage of alarming headlines about AI threatening jobs, deepening isolation, and triggering global crises. A voiceover pushes back against these fears, asserting that AI will not leave people disconnected or behind. The footage then transitions to full color, depicting a sequence of joyful moments — couples dancing on rooftops, teenagers swimming in lakes, children running through fields, and friends reuniting — many framed as Instagram posts.
The voiceover declares Meta's confidence in humanity, stating that the company is betting on people and believes the future belongs to everyone. It is a warm, aspirational message that aligns neatly with Meta's enormous financial investments in AI development.
A Soundtrack of Impending Doom
The advertisement's most puzzling element is its musical choice. The soundtrack is David Bowie's "Five Years," a track from his 1972 album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." While the portion used in the ad repeats the word "people" and carries an upbeat melody, the song itself is about humanity learning it has only five years left before a mass-extinction event.
The lyrics immediately preceding the section used in the ad describe news anchors weeping as they report that the Earth is dying. Lines such as "We had five years left to cry in" and "Earth was really dying" paint a bleak picture of global panic and despair. Without familiarity with the song, a listener might easily mistake the excerpt for an inspiring anthem — which appears to be what happened at Meta.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the video with a statement emphasizing the company's commitment to giving people tools to reach their full potential and ensuring that the benefits of technology are distributed broadly. He did not address the song's thematic content.
A Pattern of Literary Blind Spots in Tech
The Bowie mismatch is not an isolated incident among technology leaders, who have repeatedly demonstrated a tendency to overlook the darker themes in the cultural works they embrace. Meta's Oculus division previously distributed copies of Ernest Cline's novel "Ready Player One" to new employees — a book set in a dystopian future where a virtual reality company becomes dangerously powerful.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has cited the film "Her" as a source of inspiration, despite the movie serving as a cautionary tale about the risks of relying on artificial intelligence for emotional companionship. Palantir, a company that builds AI surveillance systems for government clients, took its name from a seeing stone in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" — an artifact used by the Dark Lord Sauron to spy on his adversaries. Elon Musk has also recently criticized the supposed accuracy of Christopher Nolan's planned film adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey," a story featuring sea monsters, magic, and divine intervention.
Competing for the Creepiest AI Ad
Meta is not alone in its recent promotional missteps. Several leading AI companies appear to be locked in an unofficial contest over who can produce the most unsettling advertisement. Weeks before Meta's campaign, Anthropic released a video that opens with imagery of a burning house before cutting to a series of still photographs depicting facial recognition surveillance, a homeless person sleeping on the street, rows of cemetery tombstones, and laborers working in a mine presumably extracting raw materials for smartphones.
A voiceover in the Anthropic ad features various people asking questions such as whether AI can be trusted and who will intervene if the technology needs to be stopped. The apparent intent was to demonstrate that Anthropic understands the risks AI poses, positioning the company as a responsible developer. The actual effect, however, conveyed a mood closer to the existential dread of Bowie's "Five Years."
Altman publicly responded to the Anthropic advertisement, saying he initially assumed it was satire and searched for evidence it had been produced by a rival.
These promotional efforts come at a time when public skepticism toward AI remains deeply entrenched. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, only 16% of Americans believe AI's impact on society over the next two decades will be positive, while 40% anticipate a negative effect. As the industry's biggest players continue spending vast sums to shape public perception, their messaging choices suggest they may need to spend more time studying the humanities — or at least reading the lyrics of the songs they license.
What do you make of Meta's musical choice and the broader wave of unsettling AI advertisements? Share this article and join the conversation about how tech giants are pitching the future.
