Meta has released a new advertisement meant to inspire optimism about artificial intelligence, but the song it chose to carry that message tells a very different story. The company set its latest AI campaign to David Bowie's “Five Years,” a track from 1972 in which a narrator learns the world has half a decade left before extinction.

What You Need to Know

Meta's choice of “Five Years” for an AI optimism ad has drawn criticism for its bleak lyrical theme. The company framed the spot as a forward-looking celebration of AI, yet the song's narrative centers on doom. This mismatch highlights a broader challenge for tech firms that often strip art of its original meaning in service of brand messaging.

The Ad's Tonal Blind Spot

The advertisement, which Meta posted across its social platforms, features quick cuts of people using AI tools to create, learn and connect. A sweeping instrumental edit of Bowie's track plays underneath. Listeners familiar with the song, however, will hear lyrics like “We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot” and “Five years, that's all we've got.” The original composition describes a world reacting to an imminent apocalypse. Meta's framing repurposes that dread as inspiration, a move that critics argue demonstrates poor cultural literacy.

  • David Bowie's “Five Years”: The opening track on the album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” it sets the story of a five-year countdown to disaster.
  • Meta's message: The ad describes AI as “the most transformative technology of our time” and calls on viewers to embrace it with optimism.
  • The mismatch: Using a song about collective grief to sell a future of abundance creates cognitive dissonance for attentive audiences.

Why This Matters

The advertisement reflects a pattern among major technology companies that borrow culturally charged music to polish corporate reputations. When the borrowed work carries a starkly different meaning, the strategy can backfire. For Meta, which has faced sustained scrutiny over data privacy, content moderation and the societal effects of its algorithms, the choice risks looking tone-deaf. The company's attempt to link AI with human creativity becomes ironic when the soundtrack suggests humanity may not have a long-term future. This matters because it signals a gap between how tech executives imagine AI's role and how the public, particularly the artists whose work they license, actually experiences that technology. Missteps like this can erode trust faster than any polished production can build it.

A Pattern of Tech Optimism

Meta is not the first firm to face criticism for a soundtrack disconnect. Apple, Google and Microsoft have all used licensed songs in ads that audiences later reinterpreted online. But the stakes are higher with AI. Public skepticism about the technology's risks — job displacement, bias, misinformation and environmental cost — already runs high. Painting AI with a hopeful brush while ignoring those fears can feel like gaslighting rather than honest promotion. The more companies like Meta lean on aspirational imagery and familiar music, the more they risk alienating the very users they hope to convince.

For now, the “Five Years” ad remains live on Meta's channels. Whether the company sees the backlash as a lesson or simply a blip may determine how it pitches AI to a wary world going forward.