It doesn’t happen often, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ended up eating a big slice of humble pie.
The tech mogul was trying on Wednesday to show off some of the company’s latest advances in artificial intelligence, in part using a kitchen setup featuring a social media star in the culinary world.
It turned out to be a recipe for failure — and one with a second helping of humiliation.
According to a Business Insider report, Zuckerberg’s faceplant took place at Meta Connect 2025, the latest installment of the company’s annual effort to showcase its achievements: in this case, new-and-improved AI-powered glasses that users can wear on their faces, along with a “neural wristband” that operates as a mega computer at the flick of a wrist.
This is how the demo ended: With Zuckerberg, a man who’s been on the hot seat of a hostile Congress on Capitol Hill, flailing visibly onstage as he attempted to set up a video call using the wristband, Business Insider reported.
feeling really bad for the Meta OS team https://t.co/gkcXeaje7Y pic.twitter.com/RYjNcFs83a
— near (@nearcyan) September 18, 2025
“I keep on messing this up,” Zuckerberg, the tech genius whose Facebook creation has changed society, told attendees.
“I don’t know what to tell you guys,” he said as the audience laughed sympathetically.
Are you concerned about the rise of AI?
Making matters worse, the guy who was supposed to be on the other end of the call was none other than Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth.
So, the CEO and the top tech nerd of one of the most fearsome tech giants in history combined couldn’t make the new gadgets go.
“We’re just gonna go to the next thing that I wanted to show and hope that will work,” Zuckerberg said.
When Bosworth came on stage, according to Business Insider, he blamed the conference’s WiFi setup (a complaint pretty much any smartphone owner could relate to at some point).
What came before that was almost as bad.
First up was a live demonstration of cooking world influencer Jack Mancuso, who was shown to the audience preparing to follow AI instructions on creating a “Korean-inspired steak sauce,” according to Business Insider.
It didn’t go as planned.
Meta AI’s live demo failed for the entire minute pic.twitter.com/du4roaW0ER
— near (@nearcyan) September 18, 2025
“What do I do first?” Mancuso asked the AI instructor.
He got nothing.
When he repeated the question, the AI voice had moved on, telling him he’d already prepared the base ingredients — he hadn’t — and was ready to start grating a pear to add to the sauce.
“What do I do first?” Mancuso repeated again, clearly not happy with how things were going.
Unperturbed, the AI instructor repeated that Mancuso had already prepared the base ingredients.
Mancuso held it together well, but was clearly flummoxed.
“I think the WiFi might be messed up,” he said. “Back to you, Mark.”
The risk of live demonstrations is part of the appeal, of course. When everything works on stage, it’s impressive to anyone.
But when things go wrong, they can go very wrong.
Tesla founder Elon Musk learned a similar lesson in 2019 when the “bulletproof” glass on his then-new Cybertruck shattered on the impact of a metal ball being thrown at it, as CNBC reported at the time.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
