Digital Training Institute is cloning Joanne Sweeney. Meta is cloning Mark Zuckerberg.
Hello, and you are very welcome to AI SIX, the podcast that takes away AI overwhelm in just 6 minutes a day. I’m on a mission to upskill half a million people. Today is a personal one. Why I am building an AI clone of myself, why Meta is doing the same with its CEO, and what both of these projects say about the next phase of work.
I am cloning myself. My voice, 2 decades of work in communications and the public sector, and everything I have learned about AI. I am building an AI version of Joanne Sweeney, called AIJ, and I am building a second brain called Voice Studio. And this week, I found out Mark Zuckerberg is doing the same thing at Meta, just on a slightly bigger budget.
Why I am building AIJ and Voice Studio
Let me start with what I am doing. I am building 3 things in parallel. First, AIJ, an AI version of me, was trained on my voice and 2 decades of my writing, teaching, and thinking. Second, GovComms.ai, a domain expertise product for government and public sector communications teams, is tuned to the specific work they do every day. And third, Voice Studio, which I think of as my second brain, a place where my knowledge, my IP, and my way of working are captured so they can be used at scale.
I am doing this for 3 reasons. First, curiosity. You cannot teach AI literacy without building with AI yourself. Second, a new value proposition for my clients. They need more than training. They need structured, expert AI that understands their context. Third, scale. I am one person. My diary is one diary. If I want this work to reach the people who need it, I have to extend it beyond the hours in my week.
That is my version of the same problem Mark Zuckerberg is solving at Meta. Different scale, same impulse.
What Meta is actually building
The Financial Times broke the story on the 13th of April, citing 4 people familiar with the project. Inside Meta’s newly formed Superintelligence Labs, engineers are training a photorealistic, AI-powered 3D version of Mark Zuckerberg that can hold real-time conversations. It is trained on his mannerisms, his tone of voice, his publicly available statements, and crucially, his current strategic thinking on where Meta is going.
According to the Financial Times, Zuckerberg is personally involved in training and testing the avatar. He is reportedly spending 5 to 10 hours a week coding on AI projects. One source said the goal is for employees to feel, in their words, more connected to the founder through interactions with it.
In plain English, Meta has 79,000 employees and 1 CEO. No human can be present for that many people. So the company is building an alternative presence.
Same impulse, different scale
Here is where it gets interesting for me. Zuckerberg is a multi-billionaire running a 1.6 trillion dollar company with 79,000 employees. I run a training business in Ireland. But the core impulse is identical. A founder who cannot be in every room wants a way to extend their presence, their thinking, and their value to the people who need it.
For him, the audience is employees. For me, it is clients, learners, and the public sector teams I work with through GovComms.ai. For him, the cost is hundreds of billions of dollars. For me, it is evenings and weekends. But the logic is the same. If AI can carry your expertise faithfully, the ceiling on your reach moves up.
There is one big difference, and it is not scale. It is transparency. Meta has not publicly announced its avatar. The details are based on anonymous sources. I am standing in front of you now, telling you what I am building and why. If you are going to clone a founder, the people on the receiving end should know about it.
What this means for you
If you think cloning a CEO is a Silicon Valley problem, think again. This technology is going to filter down fast. Within 2 years, consultants, solicitors, accountants, academics, and public sector leaders will all have the option to build an AI version of themselves.
The question is not whether you can. It is whether you should, and under what rules. Who has access to your clone? What can it say on your behalf? Where is the line between a helpful extension and a misleading substitute? Who owns the data it is trained on? If your AI gives advice and it is wrong, who is accountable?
These are the questions I am working through as I build AIJ. I do not have every answer yet. But I would rather be in the room asking the questions than watching the technology arrive without me.
My Take
Here is what I think. The story is not that Mark Zuckerberg is cloning himself. The story is that cloning a founder is now a normal thing to do. From a 1.6 trillion dollar company down to a training business in Dublin, the same pattern is playing out. Scale the founder. Extend the expertise. Keep going.
That can be good. It can let a new hire in Galway get direction that reflects the founder’s actual thinking. It can let a public sector comms team get expert input at 9 pm on a Sunday when they are finalising a crisis response.
It can also be bad if it is done in secret, or without consent, or without accountability. Know AI. Use AI. Govern AI. I am trying to live all 3 as I build. I hope you will hold me to it.
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Sources
The Next Web, full summary of the original FT report (13 April 2026): https://thenextweb.com/news/meta-ai-zuckerberg-digital-clone-employees
Fast Company, Meta Zuckerberg AI clone: https://www.fastcompany.com/91526258/meta-is-reportedly-building-a-mark-zuckerberg-ai-clone
PetaPixel, photorealistic AI avatar detail: https://petapixel.com/2026/04/14/mark-zuckerberg-is-building-a-photorealistic-ai-avatar-of-himself-to-engage-with-employees/
Key Statistics
• 79,000: Meta’s approximate employee headcount as of December 2025
• 4: Sources who spoke to the Financial Times for the original report
• 5 to 10: Hours per week Zuckerberg is reportedly spending coding on AI projects
• $1.6 trillion: Meta’s approximate market capitalisation at time of reporting
• 13 April 2026: Date the Financial Times broke the story
• 3: Things Joanne is building, AIJ, GovComms.ai, and Voice Studio
• 3: Reasons why, curiosity, client value, scale
About the Podcast Host
AI and Communications Specialist | Author | Podcaster | International Speaker
Joanne Sweeney is a recognised leader in digital marketing and digital transformation, specialising in the practical application of AI to enhance communication strategies. The founder of Digital Training Institute, Joanne, empowers leaders and communications professionals to leverage AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring transparency, trust, and tangible results.
She completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme in AI and Public Policy this summer before launching her fourth book AI Playbook, in September. Joanne has also published two editions of Public Sector Marketing Pro, which were preceded by her first title, Social Media Under Investigation Law Enforcement and the Social Web.
Her books have become go-to resources for governments, public sector and policing agencies, as well as marketing and communications professionals, all navigating the challenges of the changing Internet.
Joanne is the host of the AI SIX Podcast, a daily six-minute podcast that provides actionable insights, expert interviews, and practical advice to help professionals navigate the new world of work.
