Sources: Meta finalizes $15 billion deal for Scale AI stake
Meta has finalized a deal to pay around $15 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a company best known for providing the human labor needed to label data used in the creation of AI models, sources told Axios.
Why it matters: The deal, if regulators don't stop it, is set to put Scale CEO Alexandr Wang inside Meta, but raises big questions for the future of a data-labeling company widely used by all the major AI players, including Google and OpenAI.
Yes, but: Even though Meta isn't buying all of Scale, regulators may still raise objections.
The big picture: It's the latest in a series of deals in which giant tech companies have bought less than an entire company to get the people or intellectual property they want.
Last year, Microsoft struck a deal with chatbot creator Inflection AI in which Microsoft got the services of Inflection CEO (and DeepMind co-founder) Mustafa Suleyman as well as other colleagues and technology. Inflection's investors got an immediate return while also leaving in place a slimmed-down operation focused on sales to businesses.
Google made a similar arrangement with Character.AI, acquiring key talent and a technology license, handing over millions to Character.AI's investors without buying the entire company.
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