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Alexandr Wang, co-founder and CEO of Scale AI, will soon join Meta after a $14.3 billion deal. Meta continues expanding its efforts in the artificial intelligence sector, and Wang will head a new research lab. This lab will work to develop AI systems designed to create artificial superintelligence (ASI).
Meta’s decision to appoint Wang hints at a change in its approach. The company spent a lot on basic AI research, like the development of its open-source Llama model series. However, it has faced issues like losing team members and failing to meet product deadlines. As rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft ramp up competition, Meta seems to be reshaping how it manages AI leadership.
Who is Alexandr Wang?
Alexandr Wang, originally from New Mexico, launched Scale AI in 2016 with Lucy Guo. They began it as a platform to label data for companies working on self-driving vehicles but later grew it to handle bigger AI models.
The company helps arrange and clean up data used to train AI systems. Its clients include Toyota, Waymo, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Scale AI has also worked on U.S. government projects like analyzing satellite images tied to the Ukraine conflict.
Alexandr Wang joined Meta after helping Scale AI achieve years of fast growth, putting him in a key spot to shape the future of advanced AI. His career shows a pattern of embracing fast-moving innovation, with experience that includes a short time at MIT, early contributions at Quora, and a leadership role at Y Combinator. As Meta works to increase its efforts in AI, Wang’s guidance could become a major factor in defining the company's path forward in this area.
Meta asks Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang to lead new ASI research lab amid industry expansion
Scale AI expanded and brought in about $870 million in revenue in 2024, with estimates pushing that to $2 billion by 2025. Its valuation stood at $14 billion. Many view its growth as connected to the AI industry’s surge, which has raised the need for organized and labeled data.
The company uses a global system of contract workers on a platform called Remotasks. This platform trains workers to label and organize data. Critics have questioned the working conditions and pay offered to laborers in places like Southeast Asia and Africa.
Meta’s chief scientist, Yann LeCun, has handled its AI projects so far. He is well-known for his work on convolutional neural networks. LeCun, however, doubts that large language models are the way to achieve artificial general intelligence or AGI. This view is different from what most in the tech world are focused on now. The new lab, led by Alexandr Wang, will look into wider methods, including models designed to aim at ASI. ASI refers to intelligence beyond what humans can do.
Meta plans to form a new lab with 50 people. Reports show they are offering high salaries to hire researchers from firms like Google and OpenAI. Their aim is to assemble a team to create advanced AI tools. These tools will become part of Meta's products such as wearable tech and social media apps.
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