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Business Insider
27-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Why Mark Zuckerberg is making a $14 billion bet on an AI startup
Charles Rollet is a rockstar tech reporter who recently joined Business Insider. He's knocked out several scoops about Scale AI lately. This is the startup that Meta is investing in. Founder Alexandr Wang is also joining Meta. If you want to understand what Mark Zuckerberg is buying, Charles's coverage is a must-read. He broke news on how Google used Scale AI to chase ChatGPT and led exclusive reporting on how big Scale AI customers are deserting the startup. There's also an astounding story on how Scale AI left sensitive data about Google, xAI, and Meta open for anyone on the web to see. I asked Charles what he thought of this peculiar deal. Why is Zuck paying so much? If you want a cutting-edge AI model, one way to do that is by having humans rewrite millions of chatbot responses and do lots of other little tricks to painstakingly improve each AI answer. Our reporting shows that Scale AI specializes in this kind of work: it's what Scale AI did to help Google catch up with ChatGPT, for example. This kind of expertise is valuable for Zuck as he seeks to release new models that blow everyone away. The lukewarm reception to Llama 4 clearly got to him, and he's taking aggressive action. What's the future of Scale AI now, and how can it help Meta and Zuck's AI ambitions? Or is this just a massive acquihire of Alexandr Wang? It was stunning to see Google pull Scale AI projects hours after the Meta investment was announced. It's an open question whether Scale AI can regain that kind of lost revenue. But I don't think Meta will just let Scale AI peter out and die. Meta now has much more direct access to Scale AI for training its latest models. Zuck needs Llama models to be at, or very near, the top of AI benchmarks. And Scale AI has a good idea of what works and what doesn't, along with the platform to make things happen. This deal wasn't solely about hiring Wang — no offense to Alex, but there were probably cheaper ways to do that. What has your Scale AI reporting revealed about how AI models are developed? Training AI models requires a ton of human labor. A key way to improve models is through Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, or RLHF. Scale AI's biggest platform, Remotasks, has more than 240,000 human contributors doing this stuff. Ironically, automation is something of a problem here: It turns out that these humans often prefer to copy and paste answers from ChatGPT instead of giving genuine human feedback. We noticed many examples of humans being banned from Scale AI's platforms for doing this. What else should BI readers know about this situation? Zuck made a huge bet with Scale AI. People have been comparing this to the Metaverse, which burned billions and hasn't panned out yet. But if Meta starts to climb AI rankings and gets Llama models performing much better, this could be seen as a wise move — closer to Facebook buying Instagram.
International Business Times
14-06-2025
- Business
- International Business Times
Who is Alexender Wang? 28-year-Old, 'Scale AI' CEO Chosen to Lead Meta's $14.3B 'Superintelligence' Bet
In a major move, technology giant Meta has not only acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI by investing $14.3 billion but has also recruited its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead Meta's superintelligence unit. This marks a shift in priorities for artificial intelligence development. This is not a regular AI top talent hiring by Meta, as Wang, who dropped out from MIT to build his own AI empire, is not known for his academic excellence but has a reputation for operational execution in his role as one of the two cofounders of Scale AI. His company made its name by mobilizing large networks of human data annotators—through platforms like Remotasks—to train machine learning systems. With this acquisition, Meta is signaling that owning the data "pipes," rather than just the model architectures, is the real power play in the AI arms race. While Meta's competitors Google and OpenAI are focusing on refining the algorithm, Mark Zuckerberg's firm is now strategically focusing more on owning the entire AI lifecycle—from data generation to model training and product deployment. This vertical integration has parallels to the way companies such as Apple control hardware and software to create tighter feedback loops and promote faster innovation. Meta, once a pioneer in open-source models, such as LLaMA, has faced delays in its AI roadmap and talent drain in its key teams in recent times. Bringing in Wang is interpreted as further indication that the company is moving towards a more product-oriented approach to superintelligence, like Sam Altman opted for with OpenAI. The company is betting that this approach of strategic leadership and scalable data operations will outpace the academic-style development of models. The investment values Scale at $29 billion and comes just weeks after a previous funding round—backed by Nvidia and Amazon—that had valued the company at $14 billion. It also marks Meta's second-largest acquisition, following its $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp. With Wang's recruitment immediately after investing in Scale AI, Meta intends to show its serious intent in the supremacy race of AI, with players like Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek leading the charge.
Indian Express
14-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Meta poaches 28-year-old Scale AI CEO after taking multibillion dollar stake in startup
Facebook-owner Meta has invested in Scale AI in a deal that values the data-labeling startup at $29 billion and brings in its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to play a prominent role in the tech giant's artificial intelligence strategy. Meta will take a 49% stake for $14.3 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. 'We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts,' Meta said in a statement that did not disclose financial terms. The main driver for Meta's substantial investment in Scale was to secure Wang to lead its new superintelligence unit, according to a separate source briefed on the discussions. The sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified. Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Wang, who was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to Chinese immigrant physicists, dropped out of MIT to co-found Scale. He was quickly lauded as one of Silicon Valley's most promising entrepreneurs, raising funding from blue-chip venture capital firms and achieving billionaire status in his 20s. He has also cultivated relationships with top tech executives such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and has since leveraged his influence to build connections in Washington D.C., testifying in front of Congress and securing the federal government as a big client. Meta, once recognized as a leader in open-source AI models, has suffered from staff departures and has postponed the launches of new open-source AI models that could rival competitors like Google, OpenAI, and China's DeepSeek. By poaching Wang, who does not come from a research background but has built a major AI business, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting that Meta's AI efforts can be turned around by an adept business leader more in the mold of Altman than the research scientists at the helm of most competing labs. Scale said the deal values it at $29 billion and that its chief strategy officer, Jason Droege, will serve as its interim CEO. The social media giant doesn't plan to take a board seat in Scale, one of the sources added. A few employees from Scale, a company with 1,500 people, will join Wang in moving to Meta, Wang said in a note to employees on Thursday. Wang will remain on Scale's board. The cash investment would rank as Meta's second-largest ever after its $19 billion buyout of WhatsApp. It's unclear if this deal will come under any regulatory scrutiny. Meta has been sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which alleges it illegally acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle competition. Founded in 2016, Scale provides vast amounts of accurately labeled data, which is pivotal for training sophisticated tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT. To do so, Scale set up subsidiary platforms such as Remotasks and Outlier to recruit and manage gig workers who manually label the data. It was valued at nearly $14 billion in a May 2024 funding round that included Nvidia, Amazon and Meta among its backers. Despite the large investment sum, the deal might not be all good for Scale. Many AI labs that are clients of Scale could decide to discontinue using its services if they were to worry, that since Wang still sits on Scale's board, Meta might obtain an inside track into rivals' priorities around data. Still, the deal is a win for early venture capital investors in Scale, such as Accel and Index Ventures, who can cash out half of their stake in the startup.
Economic Times
13-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
From Scale AI to Meta's AI boss: Who is Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old MIT dropout gunning for OpenAI?
Meta Platforms is investing $15 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a data-labelling startup now valued at $29 billion. The deal, confirmed by both companies on Thursday, marks a strategic shift for Meta as it races to reclaim its edge in artificial intelligence. The main draw? Alexandr Wang. The 28-year-old MIT dropout and CEO of Scale AI will join Meta to lead its newly-formed superintelligence team. This unit is tasked with building systems that push beyond today's artificial intelligence capabilities—towards artificial superintelligence (ASI).'We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts,' Meta said in a statement, as reported by Meta will not take a seat on Scale AI's board, the deal will see a few of Scale's 1,500 employees join Wang at Meta. Wang will remain a board member at Scale. Wang's background is far from typical. Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico to Chinese immigrant physicists, he entered the tech world early. He worked at Quora before dropping out of MIT after his freshman year. In 2016, alongside Lucy Guo, he co-founded Scale AI via startup accelerator Y Combinator.'Long-term, we want to power any human-powered process for any company,' Wang told the YC blog in just 24, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire. Though Guo exited the startup a few years later, Wang built Scale AI into a data backbone for many of the world's leading AI raised over $680 million, including $100 million from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Today, Forbes estimates his personal net worth at $3.6 billion.'Focus on building the business and then the rest will kind of take care of itself,' he told Business Insider in 2020. Wang has become a familiar face in Washington, frequently engaging with lawmakers on the national security implications of AI. In 2018, a visit to China convinced him that America's future in warfare would hinge on AI leadership. 'The race for AI global leadership is well underway, and our nation's ability to efficiently adopt and implement AI will define the future of warfare,' Wang said in public in 2016, Scale AI helps train frontier AI models by offering large volumes of labelled data. Its platforms—Remotasks and Outlier—enlist gig workers to annotate massive datasets. This labelled data is critical for training AI systems like ChatGPT. The company began by serving autonomous vehicle clients such as Toyota, Honda, and Waymo. It has since expanded to support OpenAI, Microsoft, and even the US government, which uses its services to analyse satellite imagery from Ukraine. Scale's revenues in 2024 hit $870 million and are projected to more than double to $2 billion in 2025. Bloomberg reports this would push its valuation to $25 the startup's rapid ascent hasn't been without controversy. Investigations have highlighted harsh working conditions for its offshore gig workforce, who are paid as little as $1 per hour. These workers are primarily based in countries such as Kenya, the Philippines, and isn't just an investment—it's a statement. With this deal, Meta is signalling a departure from the traditional research-led approach it once challenges, including high-profile exits and delayed model releases, have weighed on Meta's AI progress. The company's LLaMA open-source models were meant to disrupt the industry, but lukewarm adoption and team churn have slowed long-time AI chief, Yann LeCun, remains a key figure. Yet his scepticism about large language models (LLMs) as a path to artificial general intelligence (AGI) has reportedly diverged from mainstream Silicon Valley bringing in Wang—who built Scale into a billion-dollar business without a research pedigree—CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now betting on a different kind of leadership. A business mind like Sam Altman's, rather than a research is reportedly luring talent from OpenAI and Google with seven to nine-figure pay packages to staff its 50-person superintelligence lab.'This was a deeply unique moment': Wang steps into new roleIn a message to employees, Wang acknowledged the emotional weight of leaving Scale.'The idea of not being a Scalien was, frankly, unimaginable. But as I spent time truly considering it, I realized this was a deeply unique moment, not just for me, but for Scale as well,' he assured Scale's staff that proceeds from Meta's investment would go to shareholders and vested equity Meta, Wang will lead an ambitious mission: to build AI that not only catches up to its rivals but moves beyond them. Superintelligence remains a theoretical concept—but with Wang at the helm, Meta is making a $15 billion wager that it can become reality.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
From Scale AI to Meta's AI boss: Who is Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old MIT dropout gunning for OpenAI?
Meta Platforms is investing $15 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI , a data-labelling startup now valued at $29 billion. The deal, confirmed by both companies on Thursday, marks a strategic shift for Meta as it races to reclaim its edge in artificial intelligence. The main draw? Alexandr Wang . The 28-year-old MIT dropout and CEO of Scale AI will join Meta to lead its newly-formed superintelligence team. This unit is tasked with building systems that push beyond today's artificial intelligence capabilities—towards artificial superintelligence (ASI). 'We will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexandr Wang will join Meta to work on our superintelligence efforts,' Meta said in a statement, as reported by Reuters. Though Meta will not take a seat on Scale AI's board, the deal will see a few of Scale's 1,500 employees join Wang at Meta. Wang will remain a board member at Scale. Live Events Who is Alexandr Wang? The man Meta is betting on Wang's background is far from typical. Born in Los Alamos, New Mexico to Chinese immigrant physicists, he entered the tech world early. He worked at Quora before dropping out of MIT after his freshman year. In 2016, alongside Lucy Guo, he co-founded Scale AI via startup accelerator Y Combinator . 'Long-term, we want to power any human-powered process for any company,' Wang told the YC blog in 2016. At just 24, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire. Though Guo exited the startup a few years later, Wang built Scale AI into a data backbone for many of the world's leading AI systems. He's raised over $680 million, including $100 million from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Today, Forbes estimates his personal net worth at $3.6 billion. 'Focus on building the business and then the rest will kind of take care of itself,' he told Business Insider in 2020. Wang has become a familiar face in Washington, frequently engaging with lawmakers on the national security implications of AI. In 2018, a visit to China convinced him that America's future in warfare would hinge on AI leadership . 'The race for AI global leadership is well underway, and our nation's ability to efficiently adopt and implement AI will define the future of warfare,' Wang said in public testimony. Scale AI: The silent engine of the AI boom Founded in 2016, Scale AI helps train frontier AI models by offering large volumes of labelled data. Its platforms—Remotasks and Outlier—enlist gig workers to annotate massive datasets. This labelled data is critical for training AI systems like ChatGPT. The company began by serving autonomous vehicle clients such as Toyota, Honda, and Waymo. It has since expanded to support OpenAI , Microsoft, and even the US government, which uses its services to analyse satellite imagery from Ukraine. Scale's revenues in 2024 hit $870 million and are projected to more than double to $2 billion in 2025. Bloomberg reports this would push its valuation to $25 billion. Yet the startup's rapid ascent hasn't been without controversy. Investigations have highlighted harsh working conditions for its offshore gig workforce, who are paid as little as $1 per hour. These workers are primarily based in countries such as Kenya, the Philippines, and India. Meta's AI gamble: Wang over research orthodoxy This isn't just an investment—it's a statement. With this deal, Meta is signalling a departure from the traditional research-led approach it once championed. Internal challenges, including high-profile exits and delayed model releases, have weighed on Meta's AI progress. The company's LLaMA open-source models were meant to disrupt the industry, but lukewarm adoption and team churn have slowed momentum. Meta's long-time AI chief, Yann LeCun, remains a key figure. Yet his scepticism about large language models (LLMs) as a path to artificial general intelligence (AGI) has reportedly diverged from mainstream Silicon Valley thinking. By bringing in Wang—who built Scale into a billion-dollar business without a research pedigree—CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now betting on a different kind of leadership. A business mind like Sam Altman's, rather than a research purist. Meta is reportedly luring talent from OpenAI and Google with seven to nine-figure pay packages to staff its 50-person superintelligence lab. 'This was a deeply unique moment': Wang steps into new role In a message to employees, Wang acknowledged the emotional weight of leaving Scale. 'The idea of not being a Scalien was, frankly, unimaginable. But as I spent time truly considering it, I realized this was a deeply unique moment, not just for me, but for Scale as well,' he wrote. He assured Scale's staff that proceeds from Meta's investment would go to shareholders and vested equity holders. At Meta, Wang will lead an ambitious mission: to build AI that not only catches up to its rivals but moves beyond them. Superintelligence remains a theoretical concept—but with Wang at the helm, Meta is making a $15 billion wager that it can become reality.
