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Walled Gardens and Infinite Creatives: Meta’s Vision vs. the Open Ad Ecosystem

Picture of E-Planning By  E-Planning  ·  3 minute read

In recent weeks, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has laid out a bold vision for the future of digital advertising—one where artificial intelligence doesn’t just assist in campaign planning, it runs the entire show. At the heart of this vision is a radical promise: advertisers provide a budget and a goal, and Meta’s AI will take care of everything else—from generating creatives to optimizing delivery and measuring results.

It’s a remarkable shift, and it’s not just about Meta. It could fundamentally reshape the digital advertising landscape, especially for publishers, platforms, and the open programmatic ecosystem. So what exactly does this vision entail—and what are its wider implications?

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

AI at the Helm: A New Model of Advertising

Zuckerberg’s proposed system introduces the concept of “infinite creative,” a fully AI-driven pipeline where machines generate and test ad variations at scale. Combined with Meta’s own data and platforms, the system aims to remove human friction from the ad buying process.

In parallel, Meta AI—now embedded across Instagram, Facebook, and even available as a standalone assistant—suggests a deeper integration of AI into everyday user interaction. And it’s working. In Q1 2025 alone, Meta saw a 16% rise in ad revenue and a 35% increase in profit, driven in large part by AI-enhanced engagement and targeting.

This isn’t a concept in beta. It’s already scaling.

 

The Case for Optimism: Innovation and Accessibility

There’s no denying the benefits of AI-led advertising, especially for brands and small businesses:

  • Scale and Efficiency: AI reduces the need for manual media planning, testing, and reporting—tasks that consume time and resources.

  • Creative at Scale: Machine-generated content can be rapidly customized to different audiences and formats, potentially boosting engagement.

  • Lower Barriers to Entry: Small advertisers gain access to sophisticated tools without hiring an agency or team.

  • Performance Uplift: Meta’s own metrics—like a 10% increase in average ad pricing—suggest real performance gains.

From a purely operational perspective, it’s a compelling future.

 

The Trade-Offs: Opacity and Centralization

But this future also raises concerns—many of them structural and long-term:

  • Transparency Erosion: When the same entity handles ad creation, targeting, and performance measurement, third-party verification becomes nearly impossible. Advertisers must take Meta’s word on results.

  • Creative Monoculture: If all creative is AI-generated from the same dataset, originality and diversity in brand voice may erode.

  • Agency and Platform Displacement: Ad agencies and independent ad tech platforms may find themselves increasingly sidelined.

  • Publisher Disempowerment: With Meta controlling user attention and monetization, publishers risk becoming interchangeable supply, rather than valued partners.

In short, the model rewards efficiency—but at the cost of independence, competition, and oversight.

 

The Larger Context: Open Web vs. Walled Gardens

Meta’s evolution underscores a broader tension in digital advertising: the centralization of power within closed ecosystems versus the collaborative, interoperable nature of the open web.

In open programmatic advertising, value is distributed. Buyers can choose among platforms. Publishers have options. Data is shared (within privacy-safe norms). Metrics are audited independently. And innovation flows from a wide ecosystem of companies working in parallel.

Meta’s model, in contrast, is vertically integrated. It creates the ad, places it, measures its success, and reports the results—all without leaving its own infrastructure.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that—but it does beg the question: what happens when only a few players control the market narrative, the creative tools, and the outcomes?

 

Looking Forward: AI Can Serve Many Futures

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. Its capacity to improve ad performance and reduce friction is real—and exciting. But it matters how it’s deployed, and who decides the rules.

This moment challenges the industry to rethink what we value in digital advertising:

  • Is it speed at all costs, or transparency and choice?

  • Is it automation, or the ability to collaborate with human insight?

  • Is it control, or trust in a diverse, balanced marketplace?

The answers don’t lie in opposing innovation—they lie in making sure that innovation serves everyone: brands, publishers, platforms, and ultimately users.

 

In Conclusion

Mark Zuckerberg’s vision may redefine the ad stack—but it also reopens old questions about power, fairness, and the future of digital media. As AI transforms advertising, the open web must keep evolving too—offering not just an alternative, but a compelling, values-driven path forward.

Let’s make sure the future of advertising is not just smart—but open.