Meta’s 29-Year-Old AI Chief Says Mark Zuckerberg Has an Unexpected But ‘Very Impressive’ Skill

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a communication habit that initially baffled self-made billionaire and tech founder Alexandr Wang. 

In a new interview with the Founders podcast, Wang explained that before joining Meta as its chief AI officer last year, he would occasionally reach out to Zuckerberg for business advice. Before Meta, Wang was the CEO and co-founder of AI training data startup Scale AI, which made him a billionaire in 2021 at the age of 24. 

Zuckerberg would reply to Wang’s questions on WhatsApp and send him surprisingly detailed responses. 

“I was really confused,” Wang said. “I was like, How does he have time to write these really long responses?“

Wang said he eventually realized that Zuckerberg had honed the ability to write quickly and precisely. He could move fast without sacrificing quality. In Wang’s point of view, that made Zuckerberg an unusually effective communicator. 

“He’ll write a very rigorous, long response very quickly,” Wang said. “It’s a very impressive skill of his.”

The story offers insight into how Zuckerberg approaches the competing demands of running Meta while steering the company towards AI. Wang said Zuckerberg’s time is tightly booked, making prioritization essential not just to his work as CEO, but to preserving time for his family. 

“The only way he’s able to do that and be a good dad and be a good partner and all this other stuff is to just ruthlessly prioritize,” Wang said.

Wang’s relationship with Zuckerberg has grown

Zuckerberg and Wang’s relationship began when Alex Schultz, a longtime Meta executive who currently serves as the company’s first chief data officer, introduced them. Wang said on the podcast that Schultz connected them around 2021 or 2022, when Zuckerberg’s interest in AI started to take root. 

Their first meeting took about a year to arrange, Wang disclosed. Afterward, Wang occasionally sought Zuckerberg’s advice, and they spoke about once every six months. Meta was also a customer of Wang’s company, Scale AI. 

The connection between the two executives deepened in April 2025, when Zuckerberg contacted Wang about working more closely together. Meta was struggling to keep pace with rival AI developers, and Zuckerberg wanted to change that. According to Fortune, he invited Wang to his homes in Lake Tahoe and Palo Alto, where they discussed AI’s future. Zuckerberg increasingly trusted Wang’s judgment and reportedly cited his views in conversations with advisers.

Wang was initially hesitant to leave Scale. After weeks of discussions, Meta agreed in June 2025 to invest $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale. As part of the transaction, Wang joined Meta’s superintelligence effort, reporting directly to Zuckerberg. 

Wang said on the podcast that even though Zuckerberg has spent more than two decades leading Meta, he still turns to other leading entrepreneurs for advice. Wang said the CEO’s openness stands out. 

“I think this is quite an impressive trait,” Wang said on the podcast. “It takes humility.”