SAN FRANCISCO — The American public is increasingly hostile to artificial intelligence, politicians across the political spectrum want to regulate the technology, and even leading AI companies say it may be wise for the industry to slow down. But Mark Zuckerberg says he’s optimistic that the best is yet to come.
In a 6,500 word manifesto released Monday, the co-founder and chief executive of Meta laid out a vision for how AI will make the world a better place. It places his company at the center of a more prosperous future for the United States and argues regulators shouldn’t constrain the AI technology Meta and other large tech firms are betting billions of dollars on.
“It is surprising that the discourse from many developing AI is so filled with doom,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future.”
He argues instead that AI will provide individuals with “personal superintelligence” that supercharges their capabilities, lowering the barriers to starting new businesses, creating inspiring art or conducting life-changing medical research.
Meta’s mission since our founding has focused on putting power in people’s hands. If our beliefs and principles lead, then the balance of power will favor individuals and a better future for everyone.— Mark Zuckerberg, August 2026
Zuckerberg’s public letter comes at a time when the AI industry, policymakers and the Trump administration are locked in a vigorous debate over how AI should be regulated as the technology’s capabilities continue to rapidly grow.
A string of recent incidents in which AI systems being tested inside top AI companies — including Meta — misbehaved and hacked into other companies has made the issue more pressing. President Donald Trump previously favored leaving AI firms free of government oversight but more recently the White House has moved to regulate the sector and blocked wide release of some new AI systems.
Zuckerberg’s claim that minimal regulation would allow his company to lift up Americans echoes arguments he has made before during earlier debates about regulation on the tech sector.
In 2018, he defended Facebook’s advertising-driven business model as necessary to provide its important service without charge and “bring the world closer together.” In 2019, he said in an interview with The Washington Post that the U.S. should avoid limiting online speech to set an example to other countries including China.
In his new manifesto, Zuckerberg says that any government action that slows down the release of new AI models by American companies “could add significant risk to American leadership while letting foreign models race ahead.”
Adam Billen, co-executive director of Encode AI, an advocacy group that has pushed for AI regulations, said that argument was not surprising. “It’s the exact thing I would expect Mark Zuckerberg to say. It’s the same thing he’s been saying for 20 years now,” Billen said.
“It’s just that what it is framed around now is an even more extraordinary statement of desire to control the future,” he said.
Meta has in recent years been seen in the tech industry as lagging behind leading companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in AI development. (The Post has a content partnership with OpenAI.)
Meta spent billions betting on Zuckerberg’s vision for a virtual reality “metaverse” that would become the next hit tech platform after the smartphone but it has not won mass adoption.
Zuckerberg reworked Meta’s AI teams last year, hiring top researchers and launching ambitious new projects under Alexandr Wang, the young founder of a data labeling firm that Meta bought a stake in for $15 billion.
Meta’s latest AI model, Muse Spark 1.2, is currently ranked behind those of rivals such as Anthropic, OpenAI and some Chinese AI companies. But Wang said Monday that a version of it would soon be released free as an “open weights” model for others to build on and modify.
Chinese companies currently build the most capable open models, a situation that concerns some U.S. tech and political leaders. Zuckerberg wrote in his manifesto that he was committed to releasing Meta’s AI technology openly, effectively positioning Meta as a national champion in AI. He called on the government not to impose policies that would slow his company down in that effort.
White House science and tech adviser Michael Kratsios wrote in a post on X that Meta’s new embrace of open weights models was “exactly the kind of leadership” the administration has called for.
Zuckerberg did acknowledge in his manifesto that some AI regulation is needed and appeared to respond to the industry’s public perception problems.
He wrote that Meta would do more to help and invest in communities that host the company’s data centers, in a concession to the widespread unpopularity of the facilities. And he said tech companies should share information about their AI capabilities with regulators and help them to review models as they are being built.
Andrew Freedman, CEO of Fathom, a nonprofit organization that develops novel ideas for regulating AI, said that the idea of leaving AI unregulated is now “in the rear view mirror.”
“The world is waking up that this is the governance challenge of our generation,” he said.
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