Mark Zuckerberg says he'll spend much of 2017 touring the United States

Mark Zuckerberg.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

After spending one year learning Mandarin and another building a "simple AI" to run his house, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2017 seems like a breeze.

On Tuesday, Zuckerberg shared on his Facebook page that he sets personal challenges in the beginning of every year so he can "learn new things and grow outside of my work," and his goal this time around is to have visited every state in the union by Dec. 31. To reach this milestone, Zuckerberg said he'll have to travel to around 30 states. "After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they're living, working, and thinking about the future," he said.

To Zuckerberg, it seems as though "we are at a turning point in history. For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone." Over the course of his adventure, Zuckerberg will at times be accompanied by his wife, Priscilla Chan (the two have long enjoyed going on road trips together, he said), and will stop at places suggested by his Facebook followers. There's also going to be an interactive aspect — Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, he'll post about "how everyone around the world can join in" on the journey.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.