Facebook-parent Meta hires 28-year-old Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang as Superintelligence Chief

Facebook-parent

Meta

is investing $14.3 billion in data-labeling startup

Scale AI

, taking a 49% stake in a deal. As part of the agreement, Scale’s 28-year-old co-founder and CEO, Alexandr Wang, will join Meta to lead its new superintelligence unit, a major shift in the tech giant’s AI strategy. Meta confirmed the partnership on Thursday, saying: “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.” As part of the deal, ScaleAI will be valued at $29 billion. Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reports that the main reason for Meta’s sizable investment was to secure Wang’s leadership. Unlike leaders at other AI labs who come from research backgrounds, Wang is seen as a business-oriented founder, similar to OpenAI’s Sam Altman.By bringing him on board, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aiming to revive the company’s AI ambitions, which have recently fallen behind rivals like Google, OpenAI, and China’s DeepSeek due to staff exits and delayed AI model launches.Sending a memo to ScaleAI employees, Wang confirmed his exit from the company. He will remain on Scale’s board. Scale’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Droege, will serve as interim CEO. Wang also told employees that a small number of Scale’s 1,500 workers will join him at Meta.

Second-largest investment in Meta's history

With $14.3 billion investment, it is Meta’s second-largest deal after its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. The company does not plan to take a board seat in Scale, the Reuters report said.Founded in 2016, Scale provides large volumes of labeled data essential for training advanced AI systems. It does this by managing gig workers through platforms like Remotasks and Outlier. In May 2024, it was valued at nearly $14 billion, with backers including Nvidia, Amazon, and Meta.

Read Alexandr Wang’s full note here

Wang, a New Mexico native born to Chinese immigrant physicists, dropped out of MIT to start Scale and became a billionaire in his twenties. He has built strong relationships in Silicon Valley and Washington D.C., including with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and U.S. lawmakers. Here’s the full note shared by him on TwitterGratitude Team—When I founded Scale in 2016, it was amidst some of the early Al breakthroughs—DeepMind had just released AlphaGo, and Google had just released Tensorflow—but it was still incredibly early. It was clear even then that data was the lifeblood of Al systems, and that was the inspiration behind starting Scale. Since then, the journey has been extraordinary. We've grown to over 1,500 people and become the trusted partner for model builders, enterprises, and governments building and deploying the smartest Al tools and applications. Scale is now one of the most impactful companies in the world, accelerating the development of what may be the most important technology in human history. Today, we are announcing a massive new investment from Meta. This is a major milestone and a powerful validation of the hard work you've all put into Scale's mission. With this foundation, it's now time to focus on the next chapter. Building this company alongside all of you has been my life—I started this company right out of freshman year of MIT and never looked back. Every moment and memory of the past decade has been surrounded by you all. And I wouldn't change a minute of it. When this opportunity first presented itself, my immediate reaction was uncertainty. 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. It offered a rare chance to give back to everyone who has helped shape Scale, while setting the company on an even stronger trajectory for what's ahead. As you've probably gathered from recent news, opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost. In this instance, that cost is my departure. It has been the absolute greatest pleasure of my life to serve as your CEO. As to what is next for me, I will be leaving Scale to join Meta to work on Meta's Al efforts, along with a few other Scaliens. While it is bittersweet to depart as CEO, I would never leave Scale behind. I'll stay on as a director on the Board, continuing to support Scale's mission and long-term vision. As part of my transition, I'm excited to share that Scale's Board of Directors and I have agreed that Jason Droege will step in as Interim CEO. Jason's superpowers in building and evolving businesses like Uber Eats and AXON give him the experience and skillset that make him the best person for this role. Jason knows our business and knows what Scale must do to execute on the immense opportunity ahead. Jason is also working closely with our board to hire a strong CTO to bolster our engineering teams. And let me be clear, I wouldn't be in such strong support if !weren't confident that Jason and the rest of the team are the right leaders to carry our mission forward. Today's investment also allows us to give back in recognition of your hard work and dedication to Scale over the past several years. The proceeds from Meta's investment will be distributed to those of you who are shareholders and vested equity holders, while maintaining the opportunity to continue participating in our future growth as ongoing equity holders. The exceptional team here has been the key to our success, so I'm thrilled to be able to return the favor with this meaningful liquidity distribution. Thank you for everything. Alex