Have you heard the one about Musk, Bezos, and Altman walking into a gym?
It’s sometime in the future, and Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman have joined forces on a new venture called Energym. The global chain of gyms is designed to harness the energy of the unemployed as they exercise on machines. The generated electricity feeds the AI servers that put them out of a job. Think Planet Fitness meets the Matrix, but without living in a simulation.
Energym’s mission is to feed the AI machines with human sweat, and it’s a great business model. By 2030, almost 80% of people have lost their jobs. If you have no money and no purpose, you may as well use all your free time to work out and feed AI server fans with some kilowatts. “It solves our need for energy and your need for purpose,” Altman says in a promotional video.
Energym, as you probably already know, is not real. But it very well could be. In this era, where so many brands and startups are constantly trying to flip the most inane ideas into the Next Big Thing to get a $50 billion valuation and an IPO, this absurd premise makes total sense.
The mockumentary-style ad fpr Energym that has been circulating on the internet captures the current AI startup circle jerk better than any I’ve seen online so far.
The advertisement was created by Hans Buyse and Jan De Loore. The latter—who wrote the copy for the video, as well as edited and produced it—is the cofounder of a one-man AI creative studio in Belgium called Kitchhock. The company has been creating all types of videos since 2011, back when there was no Seedance or Veo. But now, De Loore is using his creative chops and the latest generative video AI tech to make real ads for real companies in Belgium through his AI video studio arm, AiCandy.
Energym is just a satirical ad designed to promote his own business and destroy the very core of those who make the technology that powers his business. (Incidentally, Energym is the same name as a company that makes a very real $2,800 static bicycle designed for exercise and to produce electricity, but it’s not related to AiCandy’s fake ad.)
The Energym commercial is obviously tongue in cheek, as are many other videos we have seen in recent months that make fun of our increasing dependency on artificial intelligence and its power. But this one hits particularly hard. For some, it may be the Black Mirror-esque nature of it. (There’s an actual episode of the British TV series that feels like an extended version of the ad.)
Personally, it connects with the WTF-ness that the current AI situation is provoking in me on different levels. The fear of what’s next. The dread of seeing reality destroyed. The disgust for the fat cats that are running this charade with no checks and nobody’s permission. I find it hard to pinpoint what it is. It’s just an absurd exaggeration with no logical basis that hits too close for comfort—and, at the same time, makes me happy.