Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he rejected his seven-year-old daughter when she told him she wanted to grow up to be like Taylor Swift.
Meta’s CEO told the Acquired podcast that following in the pop star’s footsteps is “not available” to his middle son, August Chan Zuckerberg.
The father of three made the comments as part of a broader discussion on the importance of originality and authenticity in the tech sphere.
“One day, my daughter, we took her to a Taylor Swift concert and she said, ‘Dad, I want to be like Taylor Swift when I grow up,'” Zuckerberg told podcast hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal.
“I was like, ‘But you can’t. That’s not available to you,'” she continued.
Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that he rejected his seven-year-old daughter August when she told him she wanted to be like Taylor Swift when she grew up. Pictured: Zuckerberg with his wife and three daughters
“She thought about it and said, ‘Okay, when I grow up I want people to want to be like August Chan Zuckerberg.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.'”
Zuckerberg, 40, has long been a fan of fellow billionaire Swift, 34.
He posted about attending his Eras Tour in Santa Clara in July of last year, along with his wife Priscilla and their daughters.
He shared a photo of himself decked out in the kind of face gems and friendship bracelets that became synonymous with the tour.
He posted the photo with the caption: ‘Life of a girl dad,’ followed by another of him checking emails on the way to the event.
The couple share three daughters: eight-year-old Máxima, August and 13-month-old Aurelia.
He made these comments about Swift in response to a question about what advice he would give to tech entrepreneurs.
The Meta CEO told the Acquired podcast that following in the pop star’s footsteps is “not available” to his middle child.
“Do something you care about,” Zuckerberg said. “If you’re trying to develop a strategy, learn it as quickly as you can.”
“But part of what I’m trying to say is that I think there are different ways to build things. Our way worked for me and our team, but clearly other things have worked for other companies.”
Zuckerberg took to Instagram to post about his experience appearing on the podcast.
“A fun night at the Chase Center talking about the lessons of the early days and what’s coming in the next decade in social, technology and AI,” he said.
Zuckerberg recently received the green light to train his new Meta AI technology using billions of British Facebook and Instagram posts.
Zuckerberg is a fan of Taylor Swift and posted this photo when he took his daughter to see her Eras Tour last year.
While he was a fan of Swift, Zuckerberg was making a broader point about the need for originality and authenticity among tech developers.
Meta had not launched its AI tools in the UK or EU due to regulatory concerns.
Talks with the EU remain stalled, but Meta said the UK would now allow it to collect billions of public posts and images.
Meta said it would not use private messages from people or material from minors under 18 years of age.
Zuckerberg was recently named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in AI.
