From MIT dropout to AI billionaire: Who is Scale AI's Alexandr Wang?
Alexandr Wang
, the CEO and cofounder of
Scale AI
, has emerged as a significant figure in the
artificial intelligence
(AI) sector. Born in New Mexico, US, Wang's parents were Chinese immigrants who worked as nuclear physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Before attending college, Wang gained early experience working at Quora.
Wang enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) but left after just one year. He then joined startup accelerator Y Combinator. During his time at Y Combinator in 2016 Wang partnered with Lucy Guo, also a Quora alum, to establish Scale AI.
Within two years, both Wang and Guo were recognised in Forbes' "30 Under 30" list for enterprise technology. Soon after this recognition, Guo departed from Scale AI 'due to differences in product vision and road map,' according to a report by Forbes. Though other reports indicate that she was removed from her position.
Unicorn status
Established in 2016, Scale AI focusses on providing large volumes of accurately labelled data essential for training advanced AI systems, including tools like OpenAI's
ChatGPT
.
The company achieved unicorn status in 2019 after securing $100 million in funding from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. This was followed by another fundraising round that brought in $580 million, valuing the company at $7 billion. At 24, Wang became the world's youngest self-made billionaire. His co-founder, Lucy Guo, later became the youngest self-made woman billionaire, owing to her stake in Scale AI.
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Recent investment by
Meta
Recently, tech major Meta invested in Scale AI, reportedly valuing the data labelling startup at over $29 billion. Meta acquired a 49% stake for $15 billion,
as reported by Reuters
.
This move shows Meta's strong push to compete with rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft in the AI space. As part of this agreement, Wang is set to take a leadership role at a newly established, 50-person research lab at Meta, tasked with creating artificial superintelligence (ASI) -- AI systems designed to surpass human intelligence.
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