Mark Zuckerberg runs one of the world’s biggest tech companies, but that doesn’t stop him from sending long WhatsApp replies. And according to Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, he does it remarkably quickly.Wang spoke about the habit during a conversation with podcaster David Senra, recalling how he would sometimes turn to Zuckerberg for advice before joining Meta. What caught him off guard was the amount of detail Zuckerberg put into his responses, despite the demands of running the company.“I would ask him a question on WhatsApp, and then he would write these really long responses,” Wang said.He admitted he couldn’t quite work out how Zuckerberg found the time to do it. “I was really confused. I was like, ‘How does he have time to write these really long responses?’”Wang eventually came to see it as a skill. Zuckerberg, he said, can put together a detailed, carefully thought-out reply in very little time.“He’ll write a very rigorous, long response very quickly,” Wang said, calling it “a very impressive skill of his”.
Zuckerberg’s secret? Knowing what deserves his time
For Wang, the answer lies in how Zuckerberg manages his priorities. The 29-year-old believes the Meta chief’s ability to handle work alongside his responsibilities at home comes down to being extremely selective about where he spends his time.“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, like, ruthlessly prioritise,” Wang said.It was a glimpse into a side of Zuckerberg that people may not usually associate with running a global tech company: someone who makes time to respond at length, even when his schedule is packed.
How Alexandr Wang joined Meta
Wang said he was introduced to Zuckerberg around 2021 or 2022, although the two did not meet in person until more than a year later. Their conversations eventually became more frequent, with Zuckerberg offering advice and seeking Wang’s views on Meta’s AI plans.Their professional relationship took a major step forward in 2025, when Meta invested in Scale AI, the data company Wang co-founded with Lucy Guo. Wang also joined Meta to help lead its work on artificial intelligence and superintelligence.“We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts,” Meta said in a statement at the time.Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Chinese immigrant physicists, Wang left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to build Scale AI. His move to Meta marked a major shift for the entrepreneur, who was still in his twenties when he took on the role.
