# Meta’s New Feel-Good AI Ad Uses a Song About the World Ending

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/metas-new-feel-good-ai-ad-uses-a-song-about-the-world-ending/
- Published: 2026-07-23T18:45:52+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-23T22:12:06+00:00
- Original publisher: Wired
- Original article: https://www.wired.com/story/meta-david-bowie-apocalypse-ad-is-optimistic-actually/
- Topics: AI, Art, Culture, Entertainment, Music, Technology

## Key points

- Meta used Bowie’s apocalyptic “Five Years” in an optimistic AI advert.
- Critics said the soundtrack clashes with the campaign’s reassuring message.
- Meta cited Bowie’s own comments about optimism and technology.

## Summary

Meta has released an Instagram advertisement presenting artificial intelligence as a tool for connection and personal potential, using David Bowie’s 1972 song “Five Years” as its soundtrack. The choice has drawn criticism because the song depicts an apocalyptic future, creating a contrast with the advert’s optimistic message and underscoring wider public unease about AI companies’ attempts to reassure audiences.

The advert shows family scenes, a toddler and butterfly, and basketball player Jalen Brunson at the Knicks’ championship parade, while promoting Meta’s AI and smart glasses. Meta said Bowie had described the song as an attempt to encourage optimism about a technological future, but Bowie reference sources and former drummer Mick Woodmansey describe it as a bleak song about the end of the world. A music journalist told WIRED that licensing songs out of context is common, though Meta’s use could appear either ignorant or deliberately provocative; Bowie’s catalogue is controlled by Warner Chappell Music.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.