Zynga founder Mark Pincus: AI can get you to a B-plus, but it won’t get you to an A

In today’s CEO Daily: The executive behind FarmVille shares lessons on creating and popularizing products in the AI era The big leadership story: Who’s in charge of corporate AI spending? The markets: A good day in Asian markets, with Korea leading the way Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune .

Good morning.

Zynga founder Mark Pincus made social gaming a global habit.

Now he’s sharing his learnings—and has a lot to say about why AI won’t save you.

Zynga reached more than a billion users with hits like FarmVille before being acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2022.

Now Pincus has written a book called Life at the Speed of Play that’s both a memoir and a guide to creating products that people want.

These are hard-won lessons.

I spoke with Pincus years ago when he was struggling as the hard-driving, metrics-obsessed culture he’d built was spiraling amid rapid growth, a volatile IPO, and poor management decisions.

He was, by his own admission, a bad boss who had to learn leadership lessons on the job.

But he’s also a successful serial entrepreneur who has built popular products and empowered others to do the same.

I spoke to him recently about his advice for creating and popularizing products in an AI era.

Some observations: Science before art: “There is an art and a science to product making.

The best leaders really have mastered the science, and then they do the art.

Picasso spent the first part of his career tracing … until me and our teams have mastered what’s proven, we haven’t earned the right to do something new.