Meta Eyes $10B+ Investment in Scale AI

Meta’s Massive AI Bet

Meta is reportedly in discussions for a groundbreaking investment exceeding $10 billion in artificial intelligence firm Scale AI, according to Bloomberg. This potential deal would represent Meta’s largest external AI investment to date and rank among the most significant funding events for any private tech company.

Why Scale AI Matters

Scale AI, led by CEO Alexandr Wang, specializes in data labeling services crucial for training AI models. The company counts tech giants like Microsoft and OpenAI among its clients. Their workforce includes contractors who perform essential data annotation work, though this has drawn regulatory attention regarding employment classification.

Recent financial reports show Scale AI generated $870 million in revenue last year, with projections reaching $2 billion for the current year.

Previous Connections

Meta already participated in Scale AI’s $1 billion Series F funding round last year, which valued the company at $13.8 billion. The companies have collaborated technically as well – Scale AI developed its military-focused Defense Llama language model using Meta’s Llama 3 as its foundation.

Strategic Implications

This potential investment signals Meta’s aggressive push into AI infrastructure. As AI models demand increasingly sophisticated training data, controlling critical supply-chain elements like data labeling could give Meta a competitive edge in the escalating AI arms race.

Should this deal close, it would substantially strengthen Meta’s AI capabilities while cementing Scale AI’s position as a dominant force in machine learning infrastructure services.