Meta Platforms released blockbuster second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, July 30. While we’ll dive into the 22% year-over-year (YOY) revenue jump, we’re somewhat stuck on CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s increasing fixation with the almost immaterial idea of “superintelligence.” Zuckerberg uses the word a dozen times in his earnings statement. He mentions that superintelligence “is now in sight,” that it “will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress,” and that everyone should have a personal version that “knows us deeply, understands our goals, and can help us achieve them.” But he never actually goes into how Meta—parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—will go about creating or implementing it.  What exactly is superintelligence? IBM refers to artificial superintelligence as an AI system that “has cutting-edge cognitive functions and highly developed thinking skills more advanced than any human.” According to Zuckerberg, the time has come to enter “a new era for humanity.”  “As profound as the abundance produced by AI may one day be, an even more meaningful impact on our lives will likely come from everyone having a personal superintelligence that helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, experience any adventure, be a better friend to those you care about, and grow to become the person you aspire to be,” Zuckerberg said.  He added a note that intelligent personal devices like glasses (read: Meta’s glasses) will even take the place of laptops and phones, becoming our “primary computing devices.”  MoffetNathanson, a leading Wall Street research firm, has full confidence in Meta’s growth potential. Analysts at the firm have just increased their projections for Meta’s revenue growth for 2025 and 2026. This is in large part due to Meta’s success with using AI to “drive better monetization and engagement,” MoffetNathanson wrote in a research note on Thursday, thereby driving up ad revenues. However, MoffetNathanson said it also has doubts about Meta’s ability to replace traditional phones with super-intelligent devices. “In Meta’s worldview, the future AI form factor will be dominated by glasses and Meta AI will be the core AI-driven agent to lift our human experience,“ the analysts wrote. “Thus, the current gatekeepers—namely Apple and Alphabet—will be pushed to the side as consumers embrace a non-phone future.” Do Meta’s rising costs matter? So, how does Zuckerberg plan to usher in such an era? It appears that he will follow the adage, you have to spend money to make money. Meta’s quarter-two revenue increased 22% YOY to $47.2 billion, but its costs and expenses also rose, increasing 12% YOY to $27.1 billion. The company also expects to spend between $114 billion to $118 billion in 2025, 20 to 24% more YOY.  At the same time, Meta continues to enjoy enduring success in advertising sales, one of the five major AI opportunities that the company laid out during its quarter-one 2025 earnings report three months ago. This most recent quarter saw ad impressions increase by 11% across all of Meta’s apps YOY.  The growth is a reminder that while Meta’s chief executive spends a lot of time extolling the hypothetical benefits of superintelligence, advertising on the company’s massive social media platforms is still what pays the bills as it moves toward this aforementioned new era.  For now, Meta’s investors certainly don’t seem to mind the higher costs as long as there’s increased revenue and profit. Shares of Meta rose about 12% after hours and into premarket trading on Thursday. The stock expected to hit a record high when the market opens this morning.