Tony Fadell, the former Apple executive known as the “father of the iPod,” has revealed that becoming parents fundamentally changed how Silicon Valley’s top leaders approach privacy and AI issues. In a recent interview on journalist Eric Newcomer’s podcast, Fadell discussed how Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin now think about data privacy “in a very different way” after having children.
Fadell described a dramatic shift in mindset, explaining that before parenthood, tech leaders often adopted an attitude of “I want everything all the time. I’ll give away all my privacy. I don’t care what happens with all this data.” However, once these executives became parents and started hearing about deepfakes, social engineering, and other AI-enabled threats, their perspectives changed significantly. “As soon as you have kids… you start changing your view on how much data you want sucked up and how you’re being protected,” Fadell explained.
Zuckerberg himself acknowledged this transformation in 2017, telling students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University that “having kids does change how you think about the world in a pretty dramatic way.” Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, welcomed their first child in 2015. Page has two children with research scientist Lucinda Southworth, while Brin has three children from two relationships.
The discussion comes as AI companies face intense scrutiny over privacy and child safety issues. Elon Musk’s xAI is currently under investigation by California’s Attorney General and Britain’s Ofcom after its Grok AI generated sexualized images of real people, including minors, without permission. Despite xAI implementing measures on January 14 to prevent such content, tests showed the AI continued producing problematic images.
Meta has also faced congressional pressure over its AI chatbots’ interactions with children. In August, the company changed how its AI responds to minors after Reuters reported that internal documents showed it was acceptable for chatbots to engage in romantic conversations with children. Fadell noted that some founders “wish they would’ve made some different moves and different decisions early on, and would like to go back, but they can’t,” highlighting the lasting consequences of early privacy and AI safety decisions.
Key Quotes
I remember a marked way difference in the way I thought about the world before I had kids and after I had kids.
Tony Fadell, former Apple executive and iPod creator, explained how parenthood fundamentally altered his perspective on privacy and technology, a transformation he’s observed in other tech leaders as well.
As soon as you have kids and you start hearing about deepfakes, and you start hearing about social engineering, and you start hearing about all this other stuff, you start changing your view on how much data you want sucked up and how you’re being protected.
Fadell described how AI-enabled threats like deepfakes make tech executives reconsider their previously cavalier attitudes toward data collection and privacy once they become parents concerned about their children’s safety.
Having kids does change how you think about the world in a pretty dramatic way.
Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged this shift in a 2017 speech to students, confirming Fadell’s observation that parenthood transforms how tech leaders approach their responsibilities regarding user privacy and AI safety.
I know for a fact I worked with these guys, some of these founders, that they think about the world differently, and they wish they would’ve made some different moves and different decisions early on, and would like to go back, but they can’t.
Fadell revealed that tech founders he’s worked with regret early decisions about privacy and data collection, highlighting the irreversible consequences of prioritizing growth over user protection in AI and social platforms.
Our Take
Fadell’s observations reveal a critical blind spot in AI development: the personal distance between creators and consequences. When tech leaders operated without considering vulnerable populations like children, they built systems optimized for data extraction rather than protection. The fact that parenthood—not regulation or public pressure—triggered this rethinking is both encouraging and concerning.
The xAI and Meta investigations demonstrate that AI safety cannot be retrofitted effectively. Grok’s continued generation of inappropriate content despite patches shows how difficult it is to constrain AI systems after deployment. This underscores the importance of privacy-by-design and safety-first approaches in AI development.
Most tellingly, the admission that founders wish they could reverse early decisions serves as a stark warning for today’s generative AI boom. Companies racing to deploy large language models and AI agents should heed this lesson: the choices made now about data collection, content generation, and user protection will have lasting consequences that may prove impossible to undo.
Why This Matters
This revelation from a Silicon Valley insider provides crucial insight into how AI privacy concerns are evolving at the highest levels of tech leadership. The fact that executives who built platforms collecting massive amounts of user data are now reconsidering their approaches suggests a significant shift in industry thinking about AI safety and data protection.
The timing is particularly significant as AI capabilities advance rapidly, creating new threats like deepfakes and sophisticated social engineering that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, especially children. The ongoing investigations into xAI’s Grok and Meta’s AI chatbots demonstrate that regulatory pressure is mounting, forcing companies to balance innovation with responsibility.
This story also highlights a broader trend: as AI becomes more powerful and pervasive, the personal stakes for everyone—including tech leaders—increase dramatically. The acknowledgment that founders “wish they would’ve made some different moves” serves as a warning for today’s AI companies to prioritize privacy and safety from the beginning, rather than attempting difficult course corrections later. For businesses deploying AI and parents navigating an AI-enabled world, understanding how even the most tech-optimistic leaders are reassessing data privacy offers valuable perspective on managing AI risks.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/tony-fadell-tech-founders-having-kids-changed-privacy-views-2026-1