Meta Platforms Inc. is currently negotiating a potential multibillion-dollar investment in the artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, as indicated by sources close to the situation.
This financing could surpass $10 billion, according to some sources, positioning it as one of the most significant funding rounds for a private company in history.
The specifics of the agreement are still not finalized and may change, according to sources who preferred to remain anonymous discussing sensitive information.
A representative from Scale has not yet responded to inquiries for comment. Meta has also chosen not to provide any remarks.
Scale AI, which serves clients such as Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI, specializes in data labeling services that assist companies in training machine-learning models, making it a significant player in the generative AI landscape. The startup was most recently valued at around $14 billion in 2024 during a funding round that included support from Meta and Microsoft. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Scale was negotiating a tender offer that would assess its value at $25 billion.
If finalized, this investment would mark Meta’s largest external bet on AI and represent a rare strategy shift for the company, which has primarily relied on internal research and an open development approach for enhancing its AI capabilities. In contrast, other tech giants have heavily invested: Microsoft has contributed over $13 billion to OpenAI, while both Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have committed billions to competitor Anthropic.
Part of the investments from these companies has been through credits to utilize their computing capabilities. Since Meta lacks a cloud service, the nature of its investment remains unclear.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized AI as Meta’s top priority, stating in January that the company planned to allocate up to $65 billion towards related initiatives this year.
The company’s ambitions include establishing Llama as the global industry standard. Meta’s AI chatbot, already accessible on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is utilized by 1 billion users each month.
Founded in 2016 by CEO Alexandr Wang, Scale has experienced rapid growth: the startup recorded revenue of $870 million last year and anticipates sales will more than double to $2 billion by 2025, as reported by Bloomberg.
Scale plays a crucial role in providing AI-ready data for businesses. Since AI performance hinges on data quality, Scale employs numerous contract workers to enhance and label images, text, and other data for AI training purposes.
Both Scale and Meta have a mutual interest in defense technology. Last week, Meta revealed a new partnership with defense contractor Anduril Industries Inc. to create products for the U.S. military, including an AI-integrated helmet featuring virtual and augmented reality capabilities. Additionally, Meta has authorized U.S. government agencies and defense contractors to utilize its AI models.
The company is collaborating with Scale on a program named Defense Llama — a military-focused adaptation of Meta’s Llama large language model.
Scale has increasingly engaged with the U.S. government to create AI technologies for defense. Earlier this year, the startup announced it secured a contract with the Defense Department to develop AI agent technology, labeling the contract as “a significant milestone in military advancement.”
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