Despite Meta's significant investment in Scale AI, OpenAI has confirmed it will continue its partnership with the data services company. OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Friar, emphasised the importance of maintaining a diverse ecosystem of data sources for AI development, stating that isolating the ecosystem due to acquisitions would hinder innovation. Scale AI specialises in providing labelled and curated training data, which is crucial for developing sophisticated AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Meta's $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake values Scale AI at $29 billion. As part of the deal, Scale AI's CEO, Alexandr Wang, will join Meta to lead its superintelligence activities, while remaining on Scale's board. Jason Droege has been appointed as interim CEO. The partnership enables Meta to advance its AI capabilities, particularly in data labelling, and strengthens ties with the US government through Scale's defence tech applications.
However, some sources suggest OpenAI had been reducing its reliance on Scale AI prior to Meta's investment, and competitors are vying for clients concerned about data privacy. Scale AI denies any reduction in OpenAI's spending, affirming its commitment to providing industry-leading AI solutions and safeguarding customer data.
