Everyone has a favorite moment from Super Bowl LIX. Eagles fans likely will long cherish the decisive victory over the Chiefs. Some will discuss Kendrick Lamar’s game-changing halftime show. Me? I was happy to see Puppy Monkey Baby again.
The former Mountain Dew mascot, which made its disturbing debut in 2016 and was widely hated by pretty much everyone, was part of DoorDash’s 2025 Super Bowl commercial, a spot that crammed in more corporate mascots than anyone thought possible. For some reason, that stirred some nostalgic feelings in me and I took to Facebook to post “I, for one, am THRILLED to see the return of Puppy Monkey Baby!!!” That’s when things got weird.
I made the post, basically, to amuse myself. A short while later, during a less interesting commercial break, I decided to see if any of my friends were equally excited about the weirdest of all possible mascots. (They were, for the most part, not.) However, I had received a notification from Meta saying I could manage invites to friends on and off Facebook by creating an event – and it had taken the liberty of choosing the time, date and informational copy for this event, which it dubbed “Puppy Monkey Baby Returns!”
“The wait is over!,” the page read. “Puppy Monkey Baby is back and better than ever! Join us for a fun-filled evening of laughter, joy, and excitement as we celebrate the return of our beloved Puppy Monkey Baby. With special performances, giveaways, and surprises, this is an event you won’t want to miss!”
“This preview,” it added in small print at the bottom, “was generated by AI.”
Ah. Yes. Of course it was.
On the one hand, this made sense. Puppy Monkey Baby looks like something an AI system would generate when it’s in the midst of a hallucinogenic fever dream. And perhaps keywords like “baby” and “thrilled” led the system to think I was about to become a father and wanted to celebrate.
But where in the heck did it get the idea there would be special performances? And giveaways? Not only was I learning about a party I hadn’t planned for a nightmare-fuel corporate mascot, but I had to offer prizes to people who came?
When Fast Company contacted Meta, a spokesperson for the company confirmed that it was a new feature. “This feature can help people create events directly from their Facebook posts through AI suggestions,” said a Meta spokesperson. “You can choose to either edit or disregard a suggested event and provide feedback on the quality of the AI-generated suggestion, which helps us improve the experience.” Meta has said in the past that its AI systems are still a work in progress. The company, on Monday, was expected to begin carrying out a series of company-wide layoffs, reducing its headcount by as much as 5% as it prepares to spend $60 billion on AI development in 2025.
One upside, I suppose, is that at least Facebook didn’t automatically invite any of my friends to this non-existent party, which was scheduled for 5:00 p.m. the next day. (Good thing, too! The time it gave me to prepare would have meant a menu largely made up of leftover buffalo dip and some cold pizza.)
I looked online to see if I could find if anyone else had seen their posts seemingly transformed into an invite. There weren’t many (and none, that I could find, whose mystery invites revolved around Puppy Monkey Baby), but I wasn’t entirely alone. One user’s political post in January saw him getting the strange notification about managing invites for friends.
Invites are kind-of, sort-of hot once again, following the introduction of Apple’s Invite app for iCloud+ subscribers. Meta has never been shy to clone features of other tech companies (i.e. Instagram Stories, which had many of the same characteristics as Snap, and Reels, which is presented as an alternative to TikTok). That said, there’s no evidence that Meta is looking to extend its invite or event segment beyond its current walls.
Meta’s in a fight with Google, Microsoft, X, OpenAI and more for supremacy of this burgeoning market and is looking for ways to incorporate it into people’s lives.
This misfire, though, should serve as a warning to Meta and those other companies. Sometimes it’s best to make sure your experiments are locked in the lab when you’re still working on them. Otherwise, well, you could end up with a different sort of Puppy Monkey Baby.
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