Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to fuel a new superintelligence lab—gaining infrastructure and leadership, but raising doubts about Scale’s future.

Meta's $14 billion investment in Scale AI set off a flurry of dealmaking in the AI data industry, as Meta's rivals cut ties with Scale for other data companies

Meta is making a $14.3 billion investment in artificial intelligence company Scale and recruiting its CEO Alexandr Wang to join a team developing “superintelligence” at the tech giant.

The negotiations started as just one billionaire tech founder talking to another. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg approached Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang in mid-April about a potentially industry-shaking deal.

Meta is investing $15 billion into Scale, and will hire its CEO Alexandr Wang and key staff for a new 'superintelligence' AI division in Meta. Wang will remain on Scale AI's board, with the company set to “substantially expand” its commercial relationship with Meta “to accelerate deployment of Scale’s data solutions.”

Alexandr Wang dropped out of MIT to co-found Scale and 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.