Meta to Acquire 49% Stake in Scale AI for Nearly $15 Billion

Meta is reportedly acquiring a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.8 billion, according to The Information, citing sources familiar with the negotiations. The deal would mark one of the largest investments in a private AI company to date, giving Meta access to a critical supplier of high-quality training data used to build advanced language models like ChatGPT.

Founded in 2016, Scale AI specializes in curating and labeling massive datasets—an essential resource for training powerful artificial intelligence systems. The company was most recently valued at $13.8 billion in a funding round last spring.

Deal Still in Progress, but Key Leadership Moves Planned

While the agreement is not yet finalized, the structure of the deal is expected to benefit Scale AI’s existing investors—including Accel, Index Ventures, Founders Fund, and Greenoaks—as well as current and former employees, according to the report.

As part of the arrangement, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang is expected to take on a senior leadership role inside Meta, heading a newly formed “superintelligence” lab. This move would further Meta’s broader effort to accelerate its AI research and development.

Meta, Scale AI, and the involved investment firms have not responded to media requests for comment.

Meta Seeks to Reassert AI Leadership

The reported investment comes at a time when Meta is working to counter the perception that it’s fallen behind in the race to develop cutting-edge AI. The company released its Llama 4 language models in April, but they were met with lukewarm reviews in terms of performance. According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta also delayed the launch of its more powerful "Behemoth" model due to internal concerns over its readiness.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting top AI talent, and this potential partnership with Scale AI would significantly deepen Meta’s access to high-quality data and infrastructure—two areas that are critical to competing with firms like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

Financial and Regulatory Considerations

According to The Information, Scale AI generated about $870 million in revenue in 2024 and is projecting more than $2 billion this year. The company reportedly ended last year with over $900 million in cash on hand, placing it in a strong financial position going into the deal.

While Meta continues to face regulatory scrutiny—especially over its past acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp—the report suggests that the structure of this potential investment in Scale AI may be designed to avoid triggering additional antitrust review.

What This Means

This deal would give Meta a significant foothold in one of the most strategically important segments of the AI ecosystem: high-quality data. As models grow in size and complexity, access to well-labeled, diverse datasets is becoming just as critical as model architecture and compute power.

By bringing in Scale AI’s CEO to lead a new research lab, Meta appears to be betting on deep integration—not just investment. If finalized, this move could help Meta close the gap with its competitors and reestablish itself as a serious player in the next wave of AI development.

It’s also a signal that the AI race is not just about who builds the biggest model—but who controls the foundation it’s built on.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.