Latest news with #Scale
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How This Drop-Out Became A Billionaire Tech Founder
When Massachusetts Institute of Technology dropout Alexandr Wang made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Enterprise Technology list in 2018, his startup Scale used artificial intelligence to begin automating tasks like image recognition and audio transcription. Back then, its customers included GM Cruise, Alphabet, Uber, P&G and others Now Wang, 25, is the youngest self-made billionaire. And while he still partners with buzzy companies, today he's got $350 million in government defense contracts. This has helped Scale hit a $7.3 billion valuation, and give Wang a $1 billion net worth (as he owns 15% of the company). Scale's technology analyzes satellite images much faster than human analysts to determine how much damage Russian bombs are causing in Ukraine. It's useful not just for the military. More than 300 companies, including General Motors and Flexport, use Scale, which Wang started when he was 19, to help them pan gold from rivers of raw information—millions of shipping documents, say, or raw footage from self-driving cars. 'Every industry is sitting on huge amounts of data,' Wang says, who appeared on the Forbes Under 30 list in 2018. 'Our goal is to help them unlock the potential of the data and supercharge their businesses with AI.'
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zuckerberg signals Meta won't open source all of its ‘superintelligence' AI models
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his vision on Wednesday for 'personal superintelligence,' the idea that people should be able to use AI to achieve their personal goals. Smuggled into the letter is a signal that Meta is shifting how it plans to release AI models as it pursues 'superintelligence.' 'We believe the benefits of superintelligence should be shared with the world as broadly as possible,' wrote Zuckerberg. 'That said, superintelligence will raise novel safety concerns. We'll need to be rigorous about mitigating these risks and careful about what we choose to open source.' That wording about open source is significant. Zuckerberg has historically positioned Meta's Llama family of open models as the company's key differentiator from competitors like OpenAI, xAI, and Google DeepMind. Meta's goal has been to create open AI models that were as good as or better than those closed models. In a 2024 letter, Zuckerberg wrote, 'Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry.' Zuckerberg has previously left himself room to maneuver on this commitment. 'If at some point however there's some qualitative change in what the thing is capable of, and we feel like it's not responsible to open source it, then we won't,' he said in a podcast last year. And while many say Llama doesn't fit the strict definition of open source AI — partly because Meta hasn't released its massive training datasets — Zuckerberg's words point to a possible change in priority: Open source may no longer be the default for Meta's cutting-edge AI. There's a reason why Meta's rivals keep their models closed. Closed models give companies more control over monetizing their products. Zuckerberg pointed out last year that Meta's business isn't reliant on selling access to AI models, so 'releasing Llama doesn't undercut our revenue, sustainability, or ability to invest in research like it does for closed providers.' Meta, of course, makes most of its money from selling internet advertising. Still, that stated viewpoint on open models was before Meta started to feel like it was falling behind competitors, and executives became obsessed with beating OpenAI's GPT-4 model while developing Llama 3. Cut to June 2025, when Meta began its public AGI sprint in earnest by investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI, acquiring Scale's founder and CEO, and restructuring its AI efforts under a new unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs. Meta has spent billions of dollars to acquire researchers and engineers from top AI firms and build out new data centers. Recent reports indicate that all that investment has led Meta to pause testing on its latest Llama model, Behemoth, and instead focus efforts on developing a closed model. With Zuckerberg's mission for introducing 'personal superintelligence' to the world — a decided shift from the rivals he says are working on 'automating all valuable work' — his AI monetization strategy is taking shape. It's clear from Zuckerberg's words today that Meta plans to deliver 'personal superintelligence' through its own products like augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headsets. 'Personal devices like glasses that understand our context because they can see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day will become our primary computing devices,' Zuckerberg wrote in Wednesday's letter. When asked about Meta potentially keeping its most advanced models closed, a Meta spokesperson said that the company remains committed to open source AI and said it also expects to train closed source models in the future. 'Our position on open source AI is unchanged,' a spokesperson said. 'We plan to continue releasing leading open source models. We haven't released everything we've developed historically and we expect to continue training a mix of open and closed models going forward.' This article was updated with more information about Mark Zuckerberg's stance on open AI models. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Engadget
30-07-2025
- Business
- Engadget
Mark Zuckerberg shares a confusing vision for AI 'superintelligence'
Mark Zuckerberg has spent the last several months and several billion dollars recruiting prominent AI researchers and executives for a new "superintelligence" team at Meta. Now, the Meta CEO has published a lengthy memo that attempts to lay out his big plan for using the company's vast resources to create "personal superintelligence." In the memo, which reads more like a manifesto than a strategic business plan, Zuckerberg explains that he's "extremely optimistic that superintelligence will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress." The technology, according to him, "has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions they choose." Zuckerberg, who has previously expressed a desire to build artificial general intelligence , never defines "superintelligence." Nor does the 616-word memo explain how Meta plans to create such a technology, what it might help people accomplish or why anyone should trust the company to build it. Instead, he implies that Meta will be a better steward of this non-specifically powerful AI than "others in the industry" who expect "humanity will live on a dole of its output." As profound as the abundance produced by AI may one day be, an even more meaningful impact on our lives will likely come from everyone having a personal superintelligence that helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, experience any adventure, be a better friend to those you care about, and grow to become the person you aspire to be. Meta's vision is to bring personal superintelligence to everyone. We believe in putting this power in people's hands to direct it towards what they value in their own lives. This is distinct from others in the industry who believe superintelligence should be directed centrally towards automating all valuable work, and then humanity will live on a dole of its output. At Meta, we believe that people pursuing their individual aspirations is how we have always made progress expanding prosperity, science, health, and culture. This will be increasingly important in the future as well. Left unsaid by Zuckerberg, is the fact that the memo comes at a time when he's been rapidly reorganizing Meta's AI teams. Last month, the company invested $14.8 billion into Scale AI, a move that allowed it to bring Scale CEO and founder Alexandr Wang into the company. The 28-year-old founder is now Meta's Chief AI Officer in charge of its superintelligence efforts. Meta has also been on a hiring spree for the effort, and has reportedly been offering prominent researchers eight- and nine-figure pay packages to come to Meta. In recent weeks, the company has successfully recruited high-profile talent from Apple and OpenAI , including Shengjia Zhao, who helped created GPT-4. Zhao announced last week that he will take on the role of "chief scientist of Meta superintelligence labs." Just yesterday, Wired reported that Meta has recently turned its recruiting efforts to Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, and that in at least one case it made an offer worth more than $1 billion over several years. (Meta PR said some details of that report were "off.") All that is on top of the $72 billion Zuckerberg has said Meta plans to spend on AI infrastructure. Driving all this is that Zuckerberg has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated by Meta's own generative AI efforts. The company has had to delay its larger "Behemoth" Llama 4 model by months. Llama's struggles have also reportedly caused Zuckerberg to question whether Meta's AI efforts should remain open source, according to CNBC . It's also likely no coincidence Zuckerberg's rambling manifesto comes hours before the company is scheduled to report earnings and tell analysts more about its plans to spend billions of dollars on new AI efforts. Meta's CEO also clearly sees AI dominance as an opportunity to end the company's reliance on mobile platforms, especially Apple, which he believes have been able to exert too much control via their app stores. In his memo, he explains that "personal devices like glasses … will become our primary computing devices." A future where smart glasses are more important than smartphones would, of course, be extremely convenient for Meta, which has spent the last several years building smart glasses.
The Hindu
24-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
11 to be felicitated at Press Day function in Yadgir tomorrow
A district-level Press Day function will be organised in Yadgir on Saturday where 11 achievers in the field of journalism will be felicitated, according to president of the district unit of the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) Mallappa Sankin. In a press release here on Thursday, he said that Minister for Small Scale Industries and also district in-charge Sharanabasappa Darshanapur will inaugurate the function at Veerashaiva Kalyan Mantap in the city. MLA Channareddy Patil Tunnur will distribute awards to the 11 journalists for their contribution to the field of journalism. The 11 journalists are Hanumanthu P., Mallikarjun Kadamnore, Anand Gorkal, Balappa Kuppi, Basavaraj Karegar, Dayanand Hiremath, Khaja Kalimuddin Faridi, Mahesh Ganer, Mallikarjun Ashanal, Manjunath Biradar (photojournalist) and Sahebagouda Kalal (distributor). Of these, nine will get ₹2,000 cash prize, while Mr. Hanumanthu and Mr. Kalal will get ₹5,000 each cash prize along with appreciation letters. CMC chairperson Lalita Anpur, Siddappa Hotti, Sharanappa Manegar, Bheemanna Meti, Bhavanisingh Thakur, Raghavendra Kamanatagi and Mahesh Kalal will attend the event, Mr. Sankin said.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Windsurf and Scale deals underscore a fragile reality for startup employees
When an employee joins a startup, there's a social contract of sorts. The employee takes a risk, joining a new company, in many cases one that doesn't have proven revenue or a secure future. They join for the mission, the chance to take a seat on a possible rocket ship, and to work with a founder or set of cofounders they believe are exceptional. And of course, they join for the upside—the belief that the equity in a company that they take on as part of their compensation will actually be worth something in the end, that the founders they've risked their careers for will advocate for as many of their people as possible in the event of an exit. 'If that social compact fails, the whole system fails,' said Daniel Dart, founder of Rock Yard Ventures. And this social contract has been under pressure in recent days and weeks, as multi-billion dollar acquihires take CEOs and cofounders away from the companies they've founded—leaving behind companies with uncertain futures and in many cases hundreds of employees or more. We've seen two notable cases in quick succession: Meta's $14 billion deal for 49% of Scale AI, which moved Scale CEO and cofounder Alex Wang to Meta, and Google's $2.4 billion acquihire of Windsurf, a deal that left many employees behind—who then soon would see the remains of their company acquired by Cognition. People are mad about Scale, sure—the company laid off about 200 staff members this week—but people are really incensed about Windsurf, a deal that excluded about 250 employees, fostering concerns not only about equity (in all senses of the word) but for what this means about the relationship between founders and their employees. 'I think the cascading net effect of this sort of situation is that it's actually going to change what those early conversations with employees are like at startups,' said Dart. To Amplitude CEO and cofounder Spenser Skates—who's conducted both acquihires and acquisitions really recently—the Windsurf deal stands out as egregious. He likens it to a captain abandoning ship, comparing the situation to Francesco Schettino, who in 2012 fled the capsized Costa Concordia, leaving behind passengers and crew. Thirty-two people died in the disaster. Incidents like Windsurf, Skates says, show why it's more important than ever for employees to think hard about the founder they're throwing their lot in with. 'I think employees should ask the CEO and founders straight up: Are you going to leave? It's crazy you have to do that,' said Skates. 'But I think the character and integrity of the founders matters way more than ever.' I asked Henry Shi, cofounder, if startup employees will start thinking differently about their hiring terms as deals like this happen more frequently. 'Yes, but unfortunately I'm not sure if they have many options or leverage,' Shi wrote via email. 'Especially given the market dynamic between labor and capital as we approach economic AGI, early employees may not have that much leverage—except by starting their own companies.' Because equity is what a founder makes it. We'll see more of this as the M&A marketplace continues at 'AI speed,' said David Shim, CEO and cofounder of via email. And we have, in fact, seen deals of this ilk before, from Microsoft's acquihire of Inflection to Amazon's of Adept. And, in the end, the fact that social media was so abuzz may actually be a good thing for startup employees. It means people still want the innovation economy to benefit all its participants. Given that antitrust regulators don't seem poised to police these kinds of deals anytime soon, the public reaction may indeed be one of the few guardrails. 'What we saw with the Windsurf deal was the ecosystem getting up in arms about the fairness for employees, which should create some sense of comfort,' said Yohei Nakajima, general partner at Untapped Capital. 'While breaking up companies isn't necessarily bad, it's important that everybody gets their fair share—and especially if these types of deals continue, I'd hope to see more standards around how these get treated.' See you Monday, Allie GarfinkleX: @agarfinksEmail: a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here. Sara Braun curated the deals section of today's newsletter. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
