June 13 - Meta (META, Financial) has made a hefty investment in Scale AI, valuing the startup at about $29 billion, and will bring Scale's CEO Alexandr Wang into Meta's AI team.
Wang will leave his day-to-day role at Scale to focus on AI initiatives at Meta while remaining on Scale's board. The deal comes after reports that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg grew frustrated with the pace of internal AI development, delaying the launch of its latest Llama 4 model amid questions over its advancements.
Meta is forming a “superintelligence group” near Zuckerberg's Menlo Park office to speed up breakthroughs. Scale AI, known for data annotation and training tools essential for machine learning, will continue its operations under board oversight.
Analysts say the tie-up could help Meta enhance model training and data pipelines, narrowing gaps with rivals that have poured resources into large language models and infrastructure.
However, execution risks remain, as integrating teams and delivering measurable AI improvements can be challenging. Investors will track how Scale's expertise influences Meta's AI roadmap and whether this move accelerates product enhancements and supports long-term innovation.