Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang confirms departure for Meta as a part of $14.3 billion deal

Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang informed staff in a memo on Thursday that he is leaving for Meta, confirming studies from previous within the week about his departure and a big funding from the social networking corporate.

Meta is pumping $14.3 billion into Scale AI as a part of the deal, and may have a 49% stake within the synthetic intelligence startup, however won’t have any balloting 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 executive technique officer, to the CEO position. Droege used to be up to now a mission spouse at Benchmark and an Uber vice chairman.  

A small choice of Scale AI staff may also sign up for Meta as a part of the settlement, 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 can deepen the paintings we do in combination generating information for AI fashions and Alexandr Wang will sign up for Meta to paintings on our superintelligence efforts,” the spokesperson said. “We will percentage extra about this effort and the nice folks 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 fashions gained 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.

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