Alexandr Wang, CEO of ScaleAI speaks on CNBC’s Squawk Field out of doors the International Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 23, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang told employees in a memo on Thursday that he’s depart for Meta, confirming stories from previous within the moment about his escape and a massive funding from the social networking corporate.
Meta is pumping $14.3 billion into Scale AI as a part of the offer, and can have a 49% stake within the synthetic knowledge startup, however is not going to have any vote casting energy, a Scale AI spokesperson mentioned.
“As you’ve probably gathered from recent news, opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost,” Wang wrote within the memo that he shared on X. “In this instance, that cost is my departure. It has been the absolute greatest pleasure of my life to serve as your CEO.”
Scale AI is selling Jason Droege, the leading technique officer, to the CEO position. Droege used to be in the past a challenge spouse at Benchmark and an Uber vice chairman.
A petite selection of Scale AI workers can even tied Meta as a part of the word of honour, Wang wrote.
A Meta spokesperson showed that the corporate has finalized its “strategic partnership and investment in Scale AI.
“As a part of this, we will be able to deepen the paintings we do in combination generating records for AI fashions and Alexandr Wang will tied Meta to paintings on our superintelligence efforts,” the spokesperson said. “We will be able to proportion extra about this aim and the superb family becoming a member of this group within the coming weeks.”
Meta’s big bet on Wang fits into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to bolster his company’s AI efforts amid fierce competition from OpenAI and Google-parent Alphabet. Zuckerberg has made AI his company’s top priority for 2025, but has grown increasingly frustrated with his team, particularly as Meta’s latest version of its flagship Llama AI models received a tepid response from developers, CNBC reported earlier this week.
Although Zuckerberg has traditionally placed long-standing employees into high-ranking position, he decided that the outsider Wang would be better suited to oversee AI initiatives deemed crucial for the company.
Scale AI counts a number of Meta rivals as customers, including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. Meta is one of Scale AI’s biggest clients.
The Scale AI spokesperson said that Meta’s investment and hiring of Wang will not impact the startup’s customers, and that Meta will not be privy to any of its business information or data.
