On a conference call with analysts, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) said the real reason for the company’s success is its artificial intelligence technology, which has helped to unlock “greater efficiency and gains across our ad system.”

Meta posted a second-quarter profit that beat expectations by a wide margin, and revenue that topped forecasts for a 12th-straight quarter, as active users, ad impressions and ad prices all rose. The company also provided a revenue outlook for the current quarter that was better than forecast.

Meta Platforms shares surged after the social-media company blew out second-quarter earnings expectations Wednesday afternoon.Along with Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings report last week, Meta’s release reveals a lot of strength in digital advertising,