Through the looking glass: A hilarious ad featuring AI-generated aged versions of Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Jeff Bezos is going viral. The clip sees the three billionaires talking about a future where AI has taken almost everyone's jobs, and the energy required to power the technology is provided by the unemployed humans via physical exercise.

The ad, set in 2036, sees Musk, Altman, and Bezos talking about their co-founded company, Energym. The eerily accurate AI-generated versions talk about how 80% of people had lost their jobs by 2030, leaving them with no money or purpose – but plenty of free time.

Energym utilizes the situation by using unemployed humans to power the machines that took their jobs. As the company's name suggests, this energy is generated by working out on exercise bikes and other gym equipment.

If you've ever seen the brilliant Black Mirror episode Fifteen Million Merits, in which most of a future society must cycle on exercise bikes in order to generate electricity, this will be a familiar concept.

The ad is the work of Belgian AI startup AiCandy, a creative video agency that uses AI to create campaign videos for small and large brands.

// Related Stories

Co-founders Hans Buyse and Jan De Loore told Business Insider that they faced a lot of pushback from clients when they started their company in 2025. Many of the complaints revolved around the amount of energy AI uses, which led to the idea for a video in which humans provide the power.

"It's a combination also with the fitness hype, and young men that don't know what to do anymore with their lives," Buyse said. "It's all coming together in one 40-second video."

It is somewhat ironic that an ad about the potential job losses and unsustainable energy requirements stemming from AI has been created using this very technology. Nevertheless, it does shine a spotlight on the issues.

More big names in the AI industry are warning about an upcoming jobs apocalypse, especially for white-collar workers, while the ever-increasing energy demands of AI data centers are well documented.

It's an especially nice touch to see the AI-generated Altman talk about Energym satisfying humans' "need for purpose." The OpenAI CEO recently compared the energy use of AI to that of "training" a human, claiming that it takes "20 years of life, and all the food you eat before that time, before you get smart."