Adam Mosseri: AI is a tailwind for authenticity
Adam Mosseri is the Head of Instagram, where he oversees an app used by over 3 billion people. He also leads the team building Threads. Adam has run Instagram for longer than its founders did, after taking over from Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2018. A designer by training, he spent over 15 years at Meta, starting as a designer on Facebook’s mobile app, rising to lead Facebook’s News Feed, and eventually chosen to lead Instagram. During his tenure, Instagram’s user base has more than tripled.
In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:
1. How the canonical product team structure is changing in 2026, from baker’s-dozen specialist teams to lean pods of four to six generalists
2. The rise of the “product staff” role—a blending of PM, design, data science, and research into one generalist operator
3. Why Adam is bullish on designers even as functional boundaries dissolve, and which roles are most at risk
4. What the Instagram algorithm knows about you, and why it’s only now catching up to what people assumed it knew years ago
5. Why the rise of AI-generated content is a tailwind for Instagram, and how the company is thinking about creator identity in a synthetic-content world
6. The two biggest product failures of Adam’s career—Facebook Home and the first version of Reels
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Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/adam-mosseri-ai-is-a-tailwind-for
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Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0
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Where to find Adam Mosseri:
• X: https://x.com/mosseri
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mosseri
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mosseri
• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mosseri
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Adam Mosseri
(02:09) How product teams are changing inside Meta
(05:48) Blurring roles and career anxiety
(14:01) Hiring traits that matter now
(16:48) How AI is resetting who succeeds at work
(19:38) How Meta thinks about token spend and AI costs
(23:23) Where human judgment still matters
(25:56) Why AI is not automatically great at strategy
(30:36) Why great product leaders are curators
(34:23) What Instagram’s algorithm actually knows about you
(38:08) Why chronological feeds often disappoint users
(40:56) Why AI content may be a tailwind for Instagram
(43:42) The future of AI and human content in the feed
(48:00) What Adam admires about other social platforms
(52:05) How he handles public criticism
(56:31) Lessons from the Instagram feed redesign backlash
(01:00:21) Adam’s biggest failure: Instagram on iPad
(01:03:03) His approach to kids, screens, and social media
(01:06:56) What Adam wants listeners to remember
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Referenced:
• What happens after coding is solved? | Fiona Fung (Manager of the Claude Code and Cowork Teams): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-the-most-ai-pilled-engineering
• Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-code
• Claude Cowork: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-cowork
• Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens
• A rational conversation on where AI is actually going | Benedict Evans: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-rational-conversation-on-where
• OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai
• Mythos: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/mythos
• Fable: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/fable
• Pluralistic: The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI: https://pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/pop-that-bubble
• Plastic Dream Sequence on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plasticdreamsequence
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com
• Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal
• Facebook Home: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Home
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
Adam Mosseri Returns (Head of Instagram)
Adam Mosseri (Instagram, Facebook, Fortune’s 40 Under 40) is the CEO/Head of Instagram at Meta. Adam joins the Armchair Expert to discuss being the suit in a family of artists and designers, how we build up emotional affinities for particular brands, and why his approach to design is based in problem solving. Adam and Dax talk about using intelligent technology to evaluate safety at scale, how the Instagram algorithm actually works, and the arms race of the ability to detect when something was made by AI. Adam explains the process of rolling out new features and dealing with mistakes, the implications of how power has been shifting from institutions to individuals, and his prediction that authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
When Will Instagram Pay their Creators?
A few weeks ago Marques got a chance to sit down with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and ask him about everything from how creators make money on the platform to how the company views AI creators. Enjoy!
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
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Social:
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Hosts:
Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd
Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli
David: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel
Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17
Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@waveformpodcast
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Protocol Wars - The Fediverse Explained!
In this episode, we dive deep into the origins of two of the leading social networks and the protocols they run on - Threads/ActivityPub and Bluesky/AT protocol. If you've been wondering what the heck the Fediverse is, this episode is for you!
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
Special Thanks to:
Evan Prodomou at Activitypub
Eugen Rochko at Mastodon
John O'Nolan at Ghost
Mike McCue at Flipboard
Adam Mosseri at Meta
Jay Gruber at Bluesky
Ryan Barrett at Bridgy-Fed
Sources:
W3C: https://www.w3.org/
Identica logo: By _Identi.ca_logo.png: Status.net Teamderivative work: Valarauco (talk) - _Identi.ca_logo.png, CC BY 3.0, https://bit.ly/4cKI4le
NY Times Elon and Zuck Cage Match: https://nyti.ms/3XmP2IM
ActivityPub Graphic: Image creator: mray https://bit.ly/3T6sYjh
Activity Streams graphic: By User:Unoli - https://bit.ly/4dIoUhi
Huffpost Twitter Clown Car: https://bit.ly/3YWzPiW
Original Hacker News Mastodon Post: https://bit.ly/3Z9oeNk
NBC News Elon buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/4dwNBx7
Bloomberg Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Z4X3mW
CBS News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3yUBaw6
NBC News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Xk5WYB
NY Times Elon Buys Twitter: https://nyti.ms/3z8xLcW
NBC News Twitter Rebrands to X: https://nbcnews.to/3MqIUc8
Verge Twitter Paid Verification: https://bit.ly/3Xn4o06
Forbes How Facebook Beat Myspace: https://bit.ly/3Z3B27X
Guardian Digg users revolt: https://bit.ly/3AF2v5U
Verge Reddit API Shutdown: https://bit.ly/3YWsyzE
Adweek Reddit Platform Visibility: https://bit.ly/3MnLX4Z
Elon F You to Advertisers: https://bit.ly/3XjY35w
404Media AI Shrimp Jesus Explained: https://bit.ly/476VGWJ
Forbes Threads Fastest Growing App: https://bit.ly/3T4VAco
Waveform Secret History of the Internet: https://bit.ly/4dDCmTv
Instagram Statement about Political Content: https://bit.ly/4cJxw65
Wired Google Launches Buzz: https://bit.ly/3X7f69s
Business Insider Google Buzz Privacy Flaw: https://bit.ly/3X2ThIbFTC Charges Google: https://bit.ly/3AD76FA
Shop the merch:
https://shop.mkbhd.com
Socials:
Waveform: https://twitter.com/WVFRM
Waveform: https://www.threads.net/@waveformpodcast
Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd
Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli
David Imel: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel
Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17
Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@waveformpodcast
Join the Discord:
https://discord.gg/mkbhd
Music by 20syl:
https://bit.ly/2S53xlC
Waveform is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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20VC: Instagram CEO, Adam Mosseri on Threads: The Journey from 0-100M Users; What Worked, What Didn't and the Plans Ahead | Instagram: Biggest Mistakes, Successes, Misconceptions, TikTok Competition & The Future of Social Media; Interest Graph or Friend G
Adam Mosseri is the Head of Instagram, where he is responsible for overseeing the engineering, product, and business teams and leading Meta's efforts on creators and Reels. Adam has been at Meta for more than fifteen years. He started at Meta as a designer for Facebook's mobile app before moving to product management, where he led the Facebook News Feed product and engineering teams, and served as the Head of Facebook News Feed. Adam began his career founding a design consultancy focused on graphic, interaction, and exhibition design before joining TokBox as the company's first designer.
In Today's Discussion with Adam Mosseri We Discuss:
1. From Designer to Product Leader to Instagram CEO:
What did Adam learn from his first job bartending? How did it impact his approach to customer support and research?
What are the top 1-2 pieces of advice Adam would give to someone wanting to make the move from individual contributor to leader?
If Adam was "not amazing at anything", what did he do that enabled him to rise above the rest and become CEO of Instagram?
What have been 1-2 of the biggest lessons from working with Mark Zuckerberg for 15 years?
2. A Deep Dive on the Wild Times as Instagram CEO:
What has been Adam's single biggest mistake as CEO of Instagram?
What does Adam believe is the least known feature within Instagram that has made them successful?
What does Adam believe has been the biggest product decision he has made as CEO?
Why does Adam believe that Instagram is too complicated as a product?
Who does Adam believe is the most formidable competitor to Instagram?
Was Instagram Reels a simple copy of TikTok? What have Instagram learned from TikTok?
How does Adam respond to the statement that Instagram is a "copy-cat machine" and lacks innovaton?
3. Threads: The Journey from 0-100M Users in Three Days:
Did Adam and the team expect the response they got to Threads?
Why did they decide to break Threads out into a separate app?
What went into bootstrapping the Threads friendship and interest graph?
What was the Threads influencer activation strategy? What worked? What did not? Did they pay influencers? How did they choose which verticals to focus on?
What is Adam's core focus with Threads today?
How is the team analysing and measuring retention? What are their goals?
What are the 1-2 core reasons why Threads would not work? How do they aim to prevent them?
In 12 months, where will Threads be?
4. The Future of Consumer Social: What Happens Now?
Does Adam believe we have seen the transition from the social graph to the interest graph? Is it that binary?
Is it possible to have both the interest and the friendship graph all in one app?
How does the monetization potential differ when comparing Threads (text) to Instagram (visual)?
How important is it for the next consumer social platforms to have stars that are native to their platform (Mr Beast on Youtube, D'Amelio on TikTok etc.)
Special Episode: Meta’s Twitter Rival Arrives, with Adam Mosseri
Instagram is no stranger to taking product ideas from other companies and turning them into their own successes. Just ask Snapchat about Instagram Stories or TikTok about Instagram Reels. This time, the company is coming for Twitter with Instagram Threads.
Today, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, on why the company now wants to take on Twitter.
Today’s guest:
Adam Mosseri is the head of Instagram.
Additional reading:
Meta announced a new app called Threads intended to rival Twitter.
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A creator-led internet, built on blockchain | Adam Mosseri
As digital assets like cryptocurrency and NFTs become more mainstream, design thinker and head of Instagram Adam Mosseri believes that creators are uniquely positioned to benefit. These blockchain-enabled technologies could remove the need for a “middleman” in the form of large social media platforms, allowing creators to more freely distribute their work and connect with their audiences. He explains how this new age of the internet will give way to “the greatest transfer of power from institutions to individuals in all time.”
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Instagram’s Adam Mosseri on the future of Reels, moderation, and the responsibility of social media platforms
The Verge's Nilay Patel talks with head of Instagram Adam Mosseri about how to run a creative platform like Instagram at scale while keeping users — and democracy — safe, how much responsibility the platforms have for what their algorithms promote, and, of course, Instagram's products like Reels, Stories, and IGTV.
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Adam Mosseri
Adam Mosseri is the current CEO of Instagram. Adam sits down in the attic to talk about how he landed a job at Facebook, the responsibility of social media and the rise of the individual. Dax wonders if Mark Zuckerberg likes McDonalds and Adam talks through the reasoning behind the hiding likes trial. The two discuss how Facebook got intertwined with Cambridge Analytica, designing platforms to have a certain energy and Dax thinks men's preferences boil down to circles.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Recode Decode: Instagram's Adam Mosseri, Facebook's Andrew Bosworth, and former tech insiders on the outside (Live at Code 2019)
In these live interviews from the 2019 Code Conference, Casey Newton first talks to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri and Facebook's head of AR and VR, Andrew "Boz" Bosworth; then; later in the show, he interviews three former tech insiders: former Googler Jessica Powell, ex-Facebooker Antonio García-Martínez, and Twitter/Google veteran Nicole Wong.
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Facebook executives Adam Mosseri and Andrew Bosworth on splitting up Facebook, privacy and more
Facebook executives Adam Mosseri and Andrew Bosworth sit down with The Verge’s Casey Newton at Code Conference to discuss antitrust and the prospect of breaking up Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They also discuss Facebook Portal, and how the company is adopting new approaches to privacy, content moderation, and more.
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