Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t understand how to live - The Verge

The Verge column by senior reporter Elizabeth Lopatto, published August 10, 2026, critiques Mark Zuckerberg's vision of an AI-driven future, framing it as one of "sleek, streamlined, and totally empty relationships."
Lopatto opens with an anecdote about a fellow rock climber who used AI to generate a motivational poster—a bear on a slackline holding a sign reading "Do cool shit"—which he hung on his wall but which drew only polite, muted reactions from others.
She reflects on why such AI-generated imagery leaves people cold, identifying a mix of elements she finds off-putting, including the genre of motivational posters and so-called AI "art."
The piece argues that AI-generated content lacks the human effort and personal expression embedded in art, noting that even poorly made human art reflects the artist's mind through both its content and the physical act of creating it.
Lopatto frames these observations as part of a broader argument that the AI future being promoted fails to capture something essential about human connection and living meaningfully.