Latest news with #ScaleAI
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon takes a big hit in the AI talent wars
Amazon takes a big hit in the AI talent wars originally appeared on TheStreet. Another day and another spicy development in the AI talent wars! Meta Platform's () Scale AI deal kicked the AI talent war into overdrive, and other tech giants are following suit. 💵💰💰💵 It's an AI hiring spree, and some of the finest tech talent could rake in record-breaking AI research salaries. Lately, if a tech giant misses the boat, that's essentially letting Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook fortune write checks to poach their best generative AI talent. Needless to say, the scramble is only getting more ruthless. Over the past few months, we've seen the hunt for the top AI researchers and engineers has turned into a full-blown AI talent tech has been itching for what seems like a small pool of people who can push generative models, large language systems, and next-gen AI forward. Breakthrough AI, including lifelike chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, has made it crucial to lock down top talent fast. Meta, in particular, has been especially aggressive in chasing top AI talent. Just this month, it snagged three senior researchers from OpenAI's Zurich lab, including Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai. This comes just weeks after CEO Sam Altman blasted Meta for offering nine-figure offers to poach his team. Meanwhile, Meta locked in a massive deal with Scale AI, dropping $14.8 billion for a 49% nonvoting stake. More importantly, that deal gives Meta direct access to Scale's 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to help turn its artificial general intelligence dream into a reality. The massive Scale AI acquisition underscored the importance of valuable, top-notch, human-labeled data. Meta's big bet highlights that owning the data pipeline matters; it could potentially gain a decisive edge in building those flashy generative AI models. Meta's moves have already shaken up the whole tech space. Google's looking to cut ties with Scale to keep Meta out of its training secrets, and Microsoft's bringing in its data labeling in-house. More Tech Stock News: Circle's stock price surges after stunning CEO comment Veteran analyst drops bold new call on Nvidia stock Analyst reboots AMD stock price target on chip update Even startups like Anthropic and xAI are looking to scoop up the best talent in competing against the big guys. According to a Reuters report, Vasi Philomin, a vice president of generative AI at Amazon () , has left the company. Philomin told Reuters he's headed to another company without any was one of the major forces behind Amazon Titan and Bedrock, spending eight years shaping strategy. These pillars have become critical in Amazon Web Services' push to make AI plug-and-play for any customer. Moreover, he also helped the tech giant launch Nova for multimodal tasks and Sonic for lifelike speech, keeping pace with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. He also helped plug Anthropic's Claude (from Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic investment) into Alexa, showing off Amazon's powerful playbook. Philomin's exit comes at a time when the top AI talent turns into tech's priciest prize. The top tech leaders are reportedly using sports-style scouting to find hidden talent and dropping $100 million signing bonuses to attract talent. For Amazon, losing one of its key AI architects is a big wake-up call. Despite pouring billions into big-name deals and research efforts, Amazon is at risk of its rivals snapping up its generative AI talent. Though Rajesh Sheth (formerly of Elastic Block Store) is already handling the bulk of Philomin's work, the need for a deep bench of AI leaders ready to shape models, products, and strategy is as imperative as ever. Big picture? Philomin's move is just another sign that the top minds in the AI space hold all the cards right takes a big hit in the AI talent wars first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
Business Insider
a day ago
- 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.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Tech Stocks I'd Buy and Never Sell
Meta's $14.3 billion Scale AI deal signals a dramatic shift from social media to superintelligence development. Tesla's robotaxi launch and Optimus production represent the company's transformation from automaker to AI robotics powerhouse. Both companies are making massive investments that could redefine their entire business models over the next decade. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Everyone thinks they know what Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are -- a social media company and an electric vehicle (EV) maker. But what if I told you that's like calling Amazon a bookstore? The real story is far more intriguing, and it's unfolding right now. Here's why these two tech giants deserve a permanent spot in your portfolio. Mark Zuckerberg is spending money like a man possessed. The Facebook founder just dropped $14.3 billion to acquire 49% of Scale AI, bringing its CEO Alexandr Wang aboard to lead a new superintelligence lab. He's offering $100 million signing bonuses to poach OpenAI engineers. When Sam Altman says your rival CEO is personally emailing his team with "crazy" offers, you know something extraordinary is happening. This isn't desperation -- it's calculation. Meta has quietly built one of the most impressive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructures on the planet. The company's Llama models pioneered the open-source approach to large language models, fundamentally different from the closed systems at OpenAI and Anthropic. While critics fixate on Meta's recent AI stumbles, they're missing the forest for the trees. Consider the talent acquisition alone. Beyond the Scale AI deal, Meta has recruited former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and AI entrepreneur Daniel Gross. The company approached Perplexity AI, Runway, and Safe Superintelligence for potential acquisitions. Zuckerberg himself is making job offers that one AI researcher described as "at least $10,000,000 a year." This isn't hiring -- it's building an AI Manhattan Project. The strategy makes perfect sense when you understand Meta's endgame. The company forecasts its generative AI products will generate between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion in total revenue by 2035. That's not a typo. Meta sees AI agents transforming everything from WhatsApp customer service to Instagram content creation. With 3.3 billion daily active users across its apps, Meta has the distribution advantage that pure play AI companies can only dream about. Wall Street remains skeptical, with Meta's 64% AI talent retention rate trailing competitors. But that misses the point. Meta isn't trying to win the current AI race -- it's changing the track entirely. By combining massive capital deployment, open-source development, and unmatched distribution, Zuckerberg is positioning Meta to own the AI infrastructure layer of the internet. Tesla finally launched its robotaxi service in Austin on June 22, 2025. The rollout was small -- around 10 Model Y vehicles and front-seat riders serving as "safety monitors." Critics called it smoke and mirrors. They're right about the modest start but wrong about what it represents. This isn't about competing with Alphabet's Waymo, which already operates 1,500 robotaxis and provides more than 250,000 paid trips per week across its markets. It's about Tesla's fundamental transformation from an automaker into an AI robotics company. The robotaxi launch is merely the opening act of a much bigger production. The real story is Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot. Musk plans to produce 5,000 units this year -- what he calls a "legion" of robots. By 2026, that number jumps to 50,000. The robots will start in Tesla factories, handling dangerous and repetitive tasks, before expanding to external customers at a projected price of $20,000 to $30,000 each. Here's what makes Tesla different: vertical integration. The company designs its own AI chips, writes its software, and manufactures at scale. Every component developed for Tesla vehicles -- batteries, motors, AI inference computers -- applies directly to Optimus. Competitors like Boston Dynamics build impressive demos. Tesla builds production lines. The robotaxi service provides the perfect real-world testing ground for Tesla's AI. Every mile driven generates data that improves both autonomous driving and robotic navigation. It's a feedback loop that compounds exponentially. Musk believes Optimus could eventually be "more valuable than everything else combined" at Tesla. Given that humanoid robots could address the global labor shortage while transforming manufacturing, healthcare, and home assistance, that might be conservative. Critics point to Tesla's history of missed deadlines and Musk's "corporate puffery." Fair enough. But they said the same thing about Tesla overtaking legacy automakers in electric vehicles. The company's ability to manufacture at scale, combined with its AI prowess, creates a moat that's nearly impossible to cross. Both Meta and Tesla are making audacious bets on AI that could fail spectacularly. Meta might burn billions on talent that never delivers breakthroughs. Tesla's robots might remain glorified factory tools. But that's precisely why these stocks belong in a never-sell portfolio. These aren't trades -- they're generational investments in the future of technology. And with both companies led by founders willing to risk everything on their vision, selling would be the real mistake. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $400,193!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $38,264!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $687,731!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join , and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. George Budwell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Tech Stocks I'd Buy and Never Sell was originally published by The Motley Fool
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Amazon takes a big hit in the AI talent wars
Another day and another spicy development in the AI talent wars! Meta Platform's (META) Scale AI deal kicked the AI talent war into overdrive, and other tech giants are following suit. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter It's an AI hiring spree, and some of the finest tech talent could rake in record-breaking AI research salaries. Lately, if a tech giant misses the boat, that's essentially letting Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook fortune write checks to poach their best generative AI talent. Needless to say, the scramble is only getting more ruthless. Bloomberg/Getty Images Over the past few months, we've seen the hunt for the top AI researchers and engineers has turned into a full-blown AI talent war. Related: Gemini, ChatGPT may lose the AI war to deep-pocketed rival Big tech has been itching for what seems like a small pool of people who can push generative models, large language systems, and next-gen AI forward. Breakthrough AI, including lifelike chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, has made it crucial to lock down top talent fast. Meta, in particular, has been especially aggressive in chasing top AI talent. Just this month, it snagged three senior researchers from OpenAI's Zurich lab, including Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai. This comes just weeks after CEO Sam Altman blasted Meta for offering nine-figure offers to poach his team. Meanwhile, Meta locked in a massive deal with Scale AI, dropping $14.8 billion for a 49% nonvoting stake. More importantly, that deal gives Meta direct access to Scale's 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to help turn its artificial general intelligence dream into a reality. The massive Scale AI acquisition underscored the importance of valuable, top-notch, human-labeled data. Meta's big bet highlights that owning the data pipeline matters; it could potentially gain a decisive edge in building those flashy generative AI models. Meta's moves have already shaken up the whole tech space. Google's looking to cut ties with Scale to keep Meta out of its training secrets, and Microsoft's bringing in its data labeling in-house. More Tech Stock News: Circle's stock price surges after stunning CEO commentVeteran analyst drops bold new call on Nvidia stockAnalyst reboots AMD stock price target on chip update Even startups like Anthropic and xAI are looking to scoop up the best talent in competing against the big guys. According to a Reuters report, Vasi Philomin, a vice president of generative AI at Amazon (AMZN) , has left the company. Philomin told Reuters he's headed to another company without any specifics. Related: Veteran Tesla bull drops surprising 3-word verdict on robotaxi ride Philomin was one of the major forces behind Amazon Titan and Bedrock, spending eight years shaping strategy. These pillars have become critical in Amazon Web Services' push to make AI plug-and-play for any customer. Moreover, he also helped the tech giant launch Nova for multimodal tasks and Sonic for lifelike speech, keeping pace with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. He also helped plug Anthropic's Claude (from Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic investment) into Alexa, showing off Amazon's powerful playbook. Philomin's exit comes at a time when the top AI talent turns into tech's priciest prize. The top tech leaders are reportedly using sports-style scouting to find hidden talent and dropping $100 million signing bonuses to attract talent. For Amazon, losing one of its key AI architects is a big wake-up call. Despite pouring billions into big-name deals and research efforts, Amazon is at risk of its rivals snapping up its generative AI talent. Though Rajesh Sheth (formerly of Elastic Block Store) is already handling the bulk of Philomin's work, the need for a deep bench of AI leaders ready to shape models, products, and strategy is as imperative as ever. Big picture? Philomin's move is just another sign that the top minds in the AI space hold all the cards right now. Related: Veteran analyst drops bold new call on Nvidia stock The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Engadget
a day ago
- Business
- Engadget
Meta is reportedly looking to acquire AI voice replicator PlayAI
Meta is in currently in acquisition talks with PlayAI, a California-based startup that provides its users with an AI voice cloning tool, according to Bloomberg . According to the news organization, Meta is looking to buy the startup's technology, as well as to absorb some of its employees into the company. The parties haven't come to an agreement yet, but if the acquisition pushes through, it could give the company the technology it needs to expand its voice AI offerings. It could roll out more voice features for its AI chatbot and assistant, as well as for its smart glasses from Ray-Ban and Oakley. While both companies refused to confirm their talks to Bloomberg , the potential purchase of an AI voice cloning tool doesn't sound out of left field for Meta based on its recent activities. Company chief Mark Zuckerberg has been personally involved in a hiring spree for high-level AI experts over the past few months to form the company's new AI Superintelligence team. Zuckerberg has reportedly been offering experts from rival companies like OpenAI compensation packages as big as $100 million, and a few had already accepted. Just a few days ago, Meta finalized a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a startup that provides other companies with data labeling and model evaluation services for AI training. In exchange, Scale AI's founder and CEO Alexandr Wang joined Meta and is believed to be heading its new Superintelligence lab. Before Meta decided to invest in Scale AI, it also considered acquiring Perplexity AI. PlayAI's website says its tool can mimic or clone a user's voice and can generate voices as real as humans, which can be deployed to websites, apps and phones. While its acquisition could lead to useful voice features for Meta's apps and websites, the company could also use the tool to make more life-like AI chatbots. Zuckerberg's vision of the future, after all, is a world where people's AI friends outnumber human ones. We may already be seeing the beginnings of such a world, considering chatbot romances have become increasingly popular over the past few months. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
