Meta AI app sells vacation photos as escapism, says designer Laurent Del Rey
I was scrolling through my phone last July and, like a lot of us, I kept running into glossy beach photos I’d never see in person. Turns out Meta’s Superintelligence lab has turned that longing into a little side-project called Endless Summer, built by product designer Laurent Del Rey. The app pulls together AI-generated vacation snaps and lines them up in a swipe-able feed you can open whenever you feel the burnout creeping in.
It’s not a booking service - just a visual escape, a gallery of endless horizons you can “like” or share without ever leaving the couch. The idea is straightforward: if you can’t afford a trip, you can at least scroll through one. Still, it makes you wonder how much tech is now shaping desire and whether a digital postcard can really stand in for a real-world experience.
Del Rey calls it “for when burnout hits,” which feels like a hint at a broader cultural shift where AI-crafted images become a sort of coping tool.
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"It's both sad and fascinating that using AI has become a form of escapism, letting people experience lives they'll probably never live."
"It's both sad and fascinating that using AI has become a form of escapism, letting people experience lives they'll probably never live." Laurent Del Rey, a product designer at Meta's Superintelligence lab, recently made a side project called Endless Summer, a social media app "for when burnout hits and you need to manifest the soft life [you] deserve - with fake vacation pics of you," Del Rey wrote on X. And a slew of other AI manifestation apps have popped up on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, from "Manifest AI Coach: Dreams Made," which promises to use AI to create "vision backgrounds" to help with visualization and manifestation of a goal; to the similarly pitched Manifestar AI; to ManifestMe, which allows people to "generate personalized visuals that align with your manifestation goals and energy." Then there was "Manifest AI: Bye Broke Brain," which promised to "renew your brain in seconds," and "Manifest AI: Affirmations," for AI-generating affirmations to use every day.
When I first saw Endless Summer, I wondered if a digital postcard could ever stand in for a real getaway. The app was born in Meta’s Superintelligence lab, where product designer Laurent Del Rey pitched the idea as a side project. Tim Wijaya, the developer, says the tool quickly turned into “a form of escapism, letting people experience lives they'll probably never live.” Basically, an AI model spits out a vacation-style scene with your face in it, then you can buy the picture.
Some folks treat the image like a little talisman, hoping it will pull a better life into reach; others admit it’s just a way to cope with burnout. It’s hard to say whether the experience is a healthy mental pause or whether it just sharpens the feeling that something’s missing. Meta hasn’t revealed how much each image costs or if creators get a cut.
Without any data on how users actually feel afterward, the real value of selling imagined vacations stays fuzzy. The whole thing feels both tempting and oddly vague, a reminder of how AI can blur the line between wish-fulfilment and illusion.
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Common Questions Answered
What is the purpose of Meta's Endless Summer app according to product designer Laurent Del Rey?
Endless Summer is designed as a visual escape for users experiencing burnout, offering AI‑generated vacation snapshots that simulate a "soft life" without real travel. Del Rey describes it as a side‑project that lets people manifest the leisure they crave through fake vacation pictures.
How does Endless Summer differ from traditional travel booking tools?
Unlike travel booking platforms, Endless Summer does not facilitate actual trips; instead, it curates AI‑generated images of personalized leisure scenes for users to swipe through. The app functions as a gallery of endless horizons meant solely for escapist viewing, not for arranging real vacations.
Who are the main contributors to Endless Summer and what roles do they play?
The app was conceived by product designer Laurent Del Rey at Meta's Superintelligence lab, while Tim Wijaya is identified as the developer who built the tool. Together they created a side‑project that generates and sells AI‑crafted vacation‑style images.
What does the article say about AI‑generated vacation photos as a form of escapism?
The article quotes both Del Rey and developer Tim Wijaya, noting that using AI to produce vacation images has become a "form of escapism" that lets people experience lives they will probably never live. It highlights the bittersweet nature of this digital escape, especially when users are coping with burnout.