📰 Scale AI Founder Wang Exits for Meta in Landmark $14B AI Strategy
[Scale AI founder Wang], 28, has officially announced his departure as CEO of Scale AI following a transformative $14.3 billion deal that sees Meta acquiring a 49% stake in the data‑labeling powerhouse. The move marks one of the largest AI acquisitions in recent history and positions Wang at the helm of Meta’s ambitious “superintelligence” initiative (scale.com, theverge.com).
🔍 Background Context
Scale AI, founded in 2016 by Wang and Lucy Guo, rapidly became essential to major AI developers—including OpenAI, Google, and the U.S. Department of Defense—by supplying annotated training data via a global gig workforce (en.wikipedia.org). The $14.3 billion valuation reflects Scale’s trusted role in shaping leading AI platforms, setting the stage for Meta’s next-gen leadership.
🧩 Why This Matters
Wang’s move to Meta signals a strategic pivot: under his leadership, the social media giant aims to accelerate progress toward artificial general intelligence, aiming to compete more effectively with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic (reuters.com). Meta’s minority, non‑voting share helps sidestep antitrust concerns while still granting deep operational influence (theverge.com).
However, the deal has ignited controversy: gig‑economy researchers warn that while Wang and early investors benefit, the global contract annotators powering Scale remain largely uncompensated (time.com).
🔗 Suggest Authoritative Sources
- Reuters – coverage of the finalized $14.3 billion stake deal
- The Verge – in-depth analysis of strategic aims
- Time – investigation into gig worker impact
- Business Insider – profile of Alexandr Wang’s career
- CNA / Channel NewsAsia – detailed context on Met a’s valuation