Man vs. machine might be the rallying cry of our future with AI, but for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the fight is here now — in more ways than one.
Zuckerberg, who dabbles in mixed martial arts, took on Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili, a professional fighter and former UFC bantamweight champ, on a padded barge floating on Lake Tahoe.
A video of the sparring match on Facebook and Instagram on Sunday, complete with drone views, showed the shirtless combatants exchanging kicks, punches and take-downs before they both end up in the water.
Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan rows past in a fancy outrigger canoe at one point to comment on her husband’s bare-chested battle.
“When Merab was winning: real. When Mark was winning: AI,” read one comment on Facebook.
Elsewhere on the water, much farther north, Zuckerberg’s superyacht Launchpad continues to make headlines, 2 1/2 months after the vessel grabbed attention with a stay in Seattle.
The 387-foot, $300 million Launchpad is currently anchored in Auke Bay off Juneau, Alaska, along with its 262-foot support vessel, Wingman, which also spent time in Seattle at the end of May into June.
Last week, Launchpad was linked to a bit of drama at sea when a 21-foot skiff ran out of fuel between Juneau and Petersburg and made a request for assistance. A small cruise ship operating in the area had to make a detour around 10 p.m. on Aug. 3 to tow the stranded boat to safety.
The captain of the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy reportedly announced to passengers that the billionaire tech CEO’s ship was closer but did not answer the radio call for help, drawing boos from those onboard.
A software developer from New York City on the cruise ship detailed the ordeal on Facebook Instagram … Bluesky.
A spokesperson for Zuckerberg said, “Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident,” adding that the yacht’s crew was operating on a different radio frequency when the Coast Guard issued the general assistance request. By the time they checked the broadcast, the Wilderness Legacy was already handling the rescue.
Zuckerberg was making more waves Monday morning with the release of a 6,500-word manifesto about his vision for the future of artificial intelligence.
In the post, titled “The Future is for Everyone,” Meta’s founder laid out a defense of “personal superintelligence,” pushing back against AI doom-mongering and warning against centralizing the technology within a few powerful institutions.
Key takeaways from Zuckerberg’s manifesto include:
- Superintelligence for all: Arguing that AI should empower individuals rather than displace them, Zuckerberg advocated for open, widely distributed models over locked-down corporate gatekeeping.
- Everyday AI agents: He envisioned a world where everyone has a 24/7 personal agent managing health, career, and family — noting his own agent monitors his workouts and helps plan weekend baking recipes with his daughter.
- Invention over automation: Rather than treating AI as a tool to automate jobs, he framed it as an “invention superpower” capable of accelerating drug discovery, scientific research, and software creation.
- Accessible compute: Meta plans to maintain free and low-cost access to its models, leveraging dynamic auction mechanisms for compute to ensure broad affordability.
