--- title: "Mark Zuckerberg Abandons Metaverse as Shiny New Toy Appears" description: "Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apparently all but abandoned dead-eyed, lifeless metaverse avatar as he focuses on Meta's AI shift." date: "2023-04-07" modified: "2023-04-07" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-abandons-metaverse" categories: - "Future Society" - "Metaverse" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "ai" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Mark Zuckerberg Abandons Metaverse as Shiny New Toy Appears ![Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apparently all but abandoned dead-eyed, lifeless metaverse avatar as he focuses on Meta's AI shift.]() *\Image: Drew Angerer via Getty / Futurism\* ## Squirrel! Poor, poor, Horizon Worlds. According to [Facebook-turned-Meta]() CTO Andrew Bosworth, the company's [metaverse of dead-eyed avatars]() has been all but abandoned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — who, in an added blow, is instead said to be spending the bulk of his time chasing the investor-appeasing Silicon Valley squirrel that is generative AI. "We've been investing in artificial intelligence for over a decade, and have one of the leading research institutes in the world," Bosworth [told *Nikkei Asia*]() in an interview on Wednesday. "We certainly have a large research organization, hundreds of people." "We just created a new team, the generative AI team, a couple of months ago; they are very busy," he added. "It's probably the area that I'm spending the most time \[in\], as well as Mark Zuckerberg and \[Chief Product Officer\] Chris Cox." That sound you just heard in the distance? A single, pixelated tear, hitting the [deserted]() Horizon Worlds' floor. ## AIdvertising Hell To be fair, as Bosworth noted, Facebook *has* been working on AI R&D for years, and their large language model (LLM), LLaMa, is [rumored to be quite powerful](). The CTO also threw the metaverse a generative AI-laced bone elsewhere in the *Nikkei Asia* interview, explaining that Meta hopes that AI will ultimately make its beleaguered metaverse better. "Previously, if I wanted to create a 3D world, I needed to learn a lot of computer graphics and programming," Bosworth told the outlet. "In the future, you might be able to just describe the world you want to create and have the large language model generate that world for you." In the short term, though? Meta, per Bosworth's comments, is unsurprisingly gearing up to deploy AI in its advertising machine, the channel where the company makes the vast majority of its money — as opposed to the metaverse, which at this point is a [multibillion-dollar money pit](). (Get ready for those hyper-targeted, AI-generated ads, y'all. Cheers to living in hell!) ## Pixelated Ghosts Still, while we're sure [his investors]() are pleased, Zuck's latest [post-pivot]() [pivot]() continues to prove to be a remarkably sharp turn away from a vision that he was fully doubling down on back in just October. And regardless of how Meta ultimately makes out in the ongoing AI race, if one thing's for sure? Until Zuck's metaverse vision is realized — if it ever is — the ghost of Zucko's [legless]() Horizon Worlds avatar will surely haunt its [meat-smoking]() Dr. Frankenstein 'till the bitter end. A sad thought... even Casper had some stems to stand on. **More on dizzy Zuck:** [*Mark Zuckerberg Bows to Peer Pressure, Announces Pivot to AI*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()