Mark Zuckerberg’s media spree touting the positive effects of artificial intelligence did little to cushion the blow of Meta’s second-quarter earnings, which sent its stock tumbling on Wednesday.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Tuesday, the Meta chief executive expressed his optimism for a world where everyone has access to a super-intelligent machine.
“As a thought experiment, imagine only one person had a super-intelligent lawyer,” Zuckerberg wrote. “He would have an unfair advantage in court. That would lead to a worse society. But now imagine everyone has a super-intelligent lawyer. Justice would be carried out much more fairly and efficiently than it is today.”
But Zuckerberg’s message of AI optimism wasn’t enough to alleviate Wall Street’s initial reaction to Meta’s second-quarter earnings. The company’s stock slid nearly ۸% after reporting weaker-than-expected results.
Meta posted $۶.۱۸ in earnings per share, missing Wall Street expectations of $۷.۱۴, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates. Revenue was $۶۰.۸bn, beating analyst predictions of $۶۰.۲۳bn.
The company also raised the lower end of its expected expenses and spending for the year. Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer, said the company had $۲.۴bn in “charges related to legal proceedings” in the second quarter, raising total expenses to the range of $۱۶۵bn to $۱۶۹bn, up from $۱۶۲bn to $۱۶۹bn.
And it expects ۲۰۲۶ capital expenditures to range from $۱۳۰bn to $۱۴۵bn, up from $۱۲۵bn to $۱۴۵bn. Meta has previously said a big portion of its capex is earmarked for its AI investments.
Zuckerberg’s PR blitz comes as investors and analysts look for the company’s justification of its massive spending on AI infrastructure, a concern that has contributed to the ۱۰% drop in the company’s share price year over year.
Big tech companies such as Meta, which have increasingly burned through free cash flow, need to sell consumers and Wall Street on the promise of AI to defend their spending. The stock market’s response to Zuckerberg’s remarks on the company’s earnings call, scheduled for later this evening, could reveal whether his messaging is enough to ease investor concerns.
Meta has struggled to make an AI model to rival OpenAI or Anthropic, but it plans to start a cloud business to sell AI compute, monetizing some of its immense AI investments, Bloomberg reported this month. The report was one of the few things to boost investor confidence this year, spurring a spike in the stock’s long decline.
The day before earnings, Zuckerberg echoed his belief in decentralizing AI and creating an era of “personalized super-intelligence” where everyone has an AI assistant tailored to their needs and beliefs, in interviews with the New York Times and the Financial Times.
Though he did not specify how Meta plans to approach this, based on the company’s history, personalization would likely require consumers to hand over even more of their data. Still, Zuckerberg said it was better than his competitors’ centralized models.
“I think it is literally impossible to have a single benevolent super-intelligence that is simultaneously aligned with everyone at once,” Zuckerberg told the New York Times.
Meta may be “trying to do too much at once”, Mike Proulx, vice-president and research director at advisory firm Forrester Research, said.
“Every one of Meta’s major growth lanes now carries a trust toll,” Proulx said in a statement before listing Meta’s new projects. “AI-generated advertising raises new brand-control concerns, smart glasses create new privacy questions, youth safety remains under intense scrutiny and employee-tracking initiatives spark data-collection backlash.”
Zuckerberg’s narrative speaks to Meta’s need to set itself apart from competitors – many of whom he said are sending messages filled with “doom” about the future of AI.
“I don’t understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future,” Zuckerberg wrote in the WSJ.
Still, Meta’s attempt to create a positive message around its AI systems may fall flat, said eMarketer senior analyst Minda Smiley.
“It’s not surprising that Zuckerberg wants to come out with a more cohesive message around the company’s AI ambitions, especially as Meta tries to carve out its own lane,” Smiley said in a statement.
“But the optimistic, positive tone he’s striking stands in stark contrast to the negative sentiment that’s building toward social media companies over claims that they’ve harmed and addicted kids. This juxtaposition could make it more difficult for Meta to build credibility in an area where it’s already a laggard.”
While Zuckerberg makes an argument for Meta’s open-source approach to AI development, the company is being forced to answer for its previous practices developing its products and the effects they have had on users.
Meta is facing about ۳,۰۰۰ lawsuits alleging that it deliberately creates addictive products leading to the harm of children. The suits have been brought by families, school districts and states’ attorneys general. Forty-two states have sued Meta in state courts, with Tennessee’s case currently at trial. A separate federal lawsuit brought by ۲۹ attorneys general goes to trial in California next month.
“The shifting regulatory environment is also a major Meta risk,” said Proulx. “Policymakers are more focused on youth wellbeing, addiction and platform safety … Youth restrictions will affect who Meta can reach. That’s a big problem for a company that depends on ad revenue.”
The lawsuits not only call Meta’s corporate practices into question; they also come at a financial cost. The company has already suffered damaging losses, with two separate juries finding Meta liable for harming children and awarding plaintiffs millions in damages. Lawyers for the families, schools and lawmakers say they will not stop seeking high-cost damages until Meta changes the design of its products.
Dara Kerr and Nick Robins-Early contributed reporting
