Meta would have finalized an investment of $ 15 billion to acquire a 49% participation in Scale IA, an artificial intelligence data labeling company upwards of the rapid rise led by the 28 -year -old CEO, Alexandr Wang.
While the transaction values evolve with $ 30 billion, almost double its valuation of a year ago, industry observers think that the transaction consists more in securing Wang itself than the services of the company.
This decision is considered in the circles of Silicon Valley as an “Acquihire” of an unprecedented scale – one that positions Mark Zuckerberg not only to acquire a precious partner of AI, but to call on Wang to direct an important arm of the increasing operations of Meta AI.
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“This is a very expensive Alexandr Wang Acquihire,” writes Ben Thompson, technological analyst, echoing the now conventional wisdom of investment still to be announced.
The arrangement of rumors should place Wang at the heart of a new Meta AI laboratory, responsible for advancing the ambitions of the company in general artificial intelligence.
Wang, who abandoned the MIT and co-founded the AI in 2016, transformed the company into a critical actor of the AI world ecosystem. Scale provides data infrastructure to some of the biggest names in AI, including Openai, Meta itself and even the US Department of Defense. The company’s services help to train large languages models by providing organized and structured data sets – essential fuel for the explosion of generative AI tools.
Unlike many AI scientists, Zuckerberg has recruited in recent months, Wang is not known for advanced research. Instead, he acquired a reputation as an informed operator with solid technical knowledge, proven leadership and the ability to develop business relations with governments and businesses. His profile increased further after having appeared in front of the US Congress last year, urging a stronger national investment in the development of AI.
But this very distinction – Wang’s identity as a commercial strategist rather than a scientist of deep learning – has fueled speculation that Meta’s interest lies in his vision and influence, not just underlying technology. The structure of the agreement reflects similar agreements on the AI ”Acquihire” concluded in recent months by other technology giants. Microsoft, for example, paid $ 650 million reported to absorb a large part of the leadership of the inflection of the startup. Google also paid $ 2.7 billion to the character. In a decision widely considered to be a talent.
Now, Meta’s offer for the AI scale eclipses these figures, marking it as one of the most expensive job parts in the history of technology.
However, the strategy is not without risk. The story of Meta is strewn with renowned acquisitions which finally ended with talent outings. The co-founders of Instagram and WhatsApp left the company for years after being brought, citing clashes with Meta’s business structure. Mike Krieger of Instagram, for example, is now working at Anthropic – an AI rival in Meta.
But Zuckerberg’s conviction that AI is the next border seems to lead its move. With difficulty in having difficulty offering immediate yields, Meta has moved its priorities to the construction of fundamental infrastructure and teams for the domination of the AI. Bringing Wang into the fold is considered a strategic step in this direction.
Whether the agreement results in a long -term synergy or another departure at high prices is that the future to say. But what is certain is that Alexandr Wang, a relatively silent figure outside of technological circles so far, should become one of the most influential names in the AI race – the perpetuity of one of the most daring movements in Meta’s history.
