--- title: "Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Says She Used AI to Identify What’s Special About Her Daughter" description: "Ex-Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has a new AI startup, which she's using to automate the fundamental tasks of parenthood." date: "2026-10-26" modified: "2026-10-26" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-motherhood-ai-startup" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" --- # Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Says She Used AI to Identify What’s Special About Her Daughter ![Marissa Mayer speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt.]() *Steve Jennings / Getty Images for TechCrunch* As new AI tools sprout up like weeds, it's becoming remarkably commonplace for people of all walks of life to [outsource]() [their]() [social interactions]() to the whims of the computer. But for former Google exec and CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer, AI is doing a lot more than just [making dinner reservations]() — instead becoming a crutch for the basic tasks of parenthood. Mayer's latest project is Dazzle, a startup providing personal AI assistants valued at $35 million. As [the *New York Times* explains](), the tool works by analyzing every image in your camera roll to answer questions and make suggestions meant to help you in your everyday life. To hear the former Yahoo CEO tells it, the creepy AI assistant is meant to help women delegate monotonous chores. "Women, this is my own bias, tend to take more photos and are more visual, and so being able to work with AI in a visual medium is fun," Mayer told the *NYT*. "It essentially understands your personality, your likes, your dislikes, because it knows what you think looks good." Mayer should know, after all — she admits to using the tool for just about everything. As part of her interview with the *NYT*, the startup founder even told a story about how she tapped Dazzle for the grueling undertaking of identifying things that make her daughter special. The task was part of an assignment from her 10-year-old daughter Marielle's grade school teacher. It was pretty simple: come up with three bullet points summating what made Marielle special. Overwhelmed with the "range and complexity of potential answers," as the *NYT* tells it, Mayer asked Dazzle. "It came back and was like, your daughter is empathetic, creative and an animal lover," Mayer told the paper, evidently proud of outsourcing the task of knowing basic facts about her own child. Since founding Dazzle — which she calls "one of my babies" — Mayer says she's automated all kinds of tasks, like planning sleepovers and organizing her children's birthday parties. "The play dates are better, the travel is better," Mayer told the *NYT*. While using Dazzle to plot out her 14-year-old son Macallister's birthday party, the AI tool recommended a glow-in-the-dark theme, including glowing pool toys and phosphorescent corn hole. "He was like, 'Mom, I don't want to hit the theme that hard,'" Mayer said of her son's reaction. "I just can't help myself." **More on AI:** *[Growing Majority of Americans Convinced That AI Is Bad for Society]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [Rumors Fly That a Famous Actor Is Dating an AI Chatbot]() - [The Military’s AI Fever Is Leading Into Disaster, Critics Say]() - [Character.AI Is Hosting Epstein Island Roleplays Scenarios and Ghislaine Maxwell Bots]() - [Dario Amodei Says Trump Is Mad That He Hasn’t Given Him “Dictator-Style Praise”]() - [AI Can Mass-Unmask Pseudonymous Accounts, Research Paper Finds]() - [Children’s Toys Are Shipping With Adult AI Inside Them]() - [OpenAI Says It Will Let Users Add Trusted Contacts to Alert If They Experience a Mental Health Crisis While Using ChatGPT]() - [Cities Are Shredding Their AI Surveillance Contracts en Masse]()