Latest news with #ScaleAI
CTV News
18 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ottawa weighing plans on AI and copyright as OpenAI fights Ontario court jurisdiction
Minister of A.I. and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon speaks to media following an announcement during a visit to Scale AI, in Montreal on Thursday, July 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov OTTAWA — Canada's artificial intelligence minister is keeping a close watch on ongoing court cases in Canada and the U.S. to determine next steps for the government's regulatory approach to AI. Some AI companies have claimed early wins south of the border and OpenAI is now fighting the jurisdiction of an Ontario court to hear a lawsuit by news publishers. Evan Solomon's office said in a statement he plans to address copyright 'within Canada's broader AI regulatory approach, with a focus on protecting cultural sovereignty and how [creators] factor into this conversation.' But there are no current plans for a stand-alone copyright bill, as Solomon's office is 'closely monitoring the ongoing court cases and market developments' to help chart the path forward. It's unclear how long it will take for those court cases to determine whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted content to train their AI products. The sole Canadian case to pose the question was launched late last year by a coalition of news publishers, and the Ontario Superior Court is set to hear a jurisdictional challenge in September. The coalition, which includes The Canadian Press, Torstar, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada, is suing OpenAI for using news content to train its generative artificial intelligence system. The news publishers argue OpenAI is breaching copyright by scraping large amounts of content from Canadian media, then profiting from the use of that content without permission or compensation. They said in court filings that OpenAI has 'engaged in ongoing, deliberate, and unauthorized misappropriation of [their] valuable news media works.' 'Rather than seek to obtain the information legally, OpenAI has elected to brazenly misappropriate the News Media Companies' valuable intellectual property and convert it for its own uses, including commercial uses, without consent or consideration.' OpenAI has denied the allegations, and previously said its models are trained on publicly available data and 'grounded in fair use and related international copyright principles.' The company, which is headquartered in San Francisco, is challenging the jurisdiction of the Ontario court to hear the case. It argued in a court filing it's not located in Ontario and it does not do business in the province. 'There is no real or substantial connection to Ontario as between the defendants and the issues alleged in the statement of claim,' the company said. OpenAI also argued the Copyright Act doesn't apply outside of Canada. OpenAI is asking the court to seal some documents in the case. The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the sealing motion on July 30, according to a schedule outlined in court documents. It asked the court to seal documents containing 'commercially sensitive' information, including information about its corporate organization and structure, its web crawling and fetching processes and systems, and its 'model training and inference processes, systems, resource allocations and/or cost structures.' 'The artificial intelligence industry is highly competitive and developing at a rapid pace. Competitors in this industry are many, and range from large, established technology companies such as Google and Amazon, to smaller startups seeking to establish a foothold in the industry,' says an affidavit submitted by the company. 'As recognized leaders in the artificial intelligence industry, competitors and potential competitors to the defendants would benefit from having access to confidential information of the defendants.' A lawyer for the news publishers provided information on the court deadlines but did not provide comment on the case. Numerous lawsuits dealing with AI systems and copyright are underway in the United States, some dating back to 2023. In late June, AI companies won victories in two of those cases. In a case launched by a group of authors, including comedian Sarah Silverman, a judge ruled AI systems' use of published work was fair use, and that the authors didn't demonstrate that use would result in market dilution. But the judge also said his ruling affects only those specific authors — whose lawyers didn't make the right arguments — and does not mean Meta's use of copyrighted material to train its systems was legal. Judge Vince Chhabria noted in his summary judgment that in 'the grand scheme of things, the consequences of this ruling are limited.' In a separate U.S. case, a judge ruled that the use by AI company Anthropic of published books without permission to train its systems was fair use. But Judge William Alsup also ruled that Anthropic 'had no entitlement to use pirated copies.' Jane Ginsburg, a professor at Columbia University's law school who studies intellectual property and technology, said it would be too simplistic to just look at the cases as complete wins for the AI companies. 'I think both the question of how much weight to give the pirate nature of the sources, and the question of market dilution, are going to be big issues in other cases,' Ginsburg said. Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's AI Innovations Drive $850 Price Target as Analysts See Strong Q2 Ahead
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:) is one of the . On July 16, Canaccord Genuity analyst Maria Ripps raised the price target on the stock to $850.00 (from $825.00) while maintaining a 'Buy' rating. The firm is optimistic about Meta's second Q2 results and believes that the setup is compelling as it moves into FY26. 'We expect Meta to report solid Q2 results, with ad revenue growth remaining in the mid-teens y/y despite some modest q/q deceleration, in part reflecting tariff-driven uncertainty impacting budget deployments in the earlier part of the quarter. Growth likely remained buoyed by continued AI-driven improvements to content creation and ads recommendation models, with Meta having introduced a new generative ads recommendation model in Q1 that is twice as efficient at improving ad performance as legacy models. Looking ahead, we expect the pace of innovation to remain robust given recent AI investments, including acquiring 49% stake in Scale AI, hiring OpenAI and Apple researchers, unveiling Meta Superintelligence labs, and acquiring voice AI startup PlayAI. Copyright: buchachon / 123RF Stock Photo "These investments, coupled with the technical infrastructure build out, should support Meta's reported goal of enabling brands to fully create and target ads using AI by the end of 2026, among other initiatives. For Q2, we forecast ad revenue and total revenue to both increase ~14% y/y (vs. +16% y/y in Q1), with the modest q/q deceleration in part reflecting tariff-related uncertainty, and we expect OI of $16.7B, 37.5% margin, modestly below consensus. Given the recent investments Meta has been making in AI engineers/researchers, we do see some increased upside risk to FY25 OpEx guidance. That said, in addition to continued improvements to core monetization functions, Meta has several new tailwinds that should progressively build, including further automation of key advertiser functions, ads on WhatsApp and Threads, and a potential general release of the WhatsApp Business' chatbot offering. While we acknowledge shares are trading near all-time highs, we continue to think the setup is compelling, particularly as we move into FY26.' While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Just Assembled a "Super Intelligence Avengers" Team That Could Totally Change the Game in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here's Why That Makes Meta a "Must-Own" AI Stock.
Key Points Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently gone on a spending binge in pursuit of "super intelligence." Over the past month-plus, Meta has poached top talent from other big artificial intelligence (AI) players with nine-figure offers. The company is also investing in massive Manhattan-sized AI superclusters to bolster the talent push. Will it work? These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Investors may be generally tracking the artificial intelligence wars (AI), with most of the "Magnificent Seven" companies spending hand over fist in a race to be the first to crack AI -- and all the financial benefits that come with it. But over the last couple of weeks, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made truly massive moves, committing huge amounts of dollars to both talent and computing infrastructure that dwarf even the current super-expensive standard of today's AI leaders. The implications of the moves may have been comprehended by some, but may still be underestimated by the larger investment community. Zuck throws down the gauntlet Over the past month or so, Zuckerberg has: Purchased 49% of data-labeling leader Scale AI at a $28 billion valuation, bringing in Scale's CEO Alexandr Wang and top leadership. Hired top AI talent in addition to Wang to create a "Super-Intelligence Team" from several leading AI and tech rivals, totaling about 50 researchers, by offering multiples more than other companies, with some offers rumored to be as much as $200 million or more. Notable poached talent includes Nat Friedman, the former GitHub CEO; Daniel Gross, who was CEO and co-founder of SSI, Ilya Sustkever's current start-up (Sustkever was a co-founder of OpenAI); Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple's AI division; as well as Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai from OpenAI. On infrastructure investments, Zuckerberg also shed light on massive upcoming projects: In a Threads post, Zuckerberg said Meta was going to invest "hundreds of billions of dollars" in AI superclusters. This includes the industry's first 1GW supercluster, which Meta is calling Prometheus and should come online in 2026. Zuckerberg also said this will be just the first of multiple GW-plus superclusters, including Hyperion, which will eventually scale up to 5 GW over several years, and encompass a data center almost the size of Manhattan. How does all this spending pay off? One might wonder what spurred this spending binge from Zuckerberg, and whether it was an offensive or defensive move. The answer, perhaps not surprisingly, is likely both. Zuckerberg now says Meta is aiming for "super intelligence," which could be somewhat akin to what was formerly referred to as artificial general intelligence (AGI). The concept of super intelligence, and whether AI is capable of reaching such a thing, has been hotly debated. However, it appears that Zuckerberg now believes super intelligence is achievable, and may be reached within the next few years. In a recent interview with tech magazine The Information, Zuckerberg said: There is this big debate in the industry today. All right, is super intelligence going to be possible in three years, five years, seven years? But I don't think anyone knows the answer. I just think that we should bet and act as if it's going to be ready in the next two to three years. Zuckerberg also believes "super intelligence" may mean different things to Meta than it does to more enterprise-oriented Mag Seven companies. Whereas, say, Microsoft might use AI to automate many enterprise functions, leading to an increase in productivity, for Meta, Zuckerberg apparently has a vision of giving consumers "super intelligence" related to their everyday lives, the media they consume, and their social connections. Zuckerberg also made an interesting note in the interview that the high salaries are worth it, since the ultimate team will likely be small, between 50 and 70 people: I think that the physics of this is, you don't need a massive team to do this. You actually kind of want the smallest group of people who can fit the whole thing in their head. So there's just an absolute premium for the best and most talented people. This makes sense. The architecting of AI systems is very complex, and if a technician makes a wrong architectural choice along the way, that can affect the performance of the entire model. According to AI chip blog Semianalysis, Meta's recent large language model Llama 4 has been a disappointment, and the reasons were partly due to poor data labeling -- which the Scale AI acquisition should help with -- and a few poor architectural choices. Thus, it's perhaps no surprise that Zuckerberg feels investing in a smaller number of high-caliber engineers is the best path. The difference between a winning model and a disappointing model may come down to a few high-level decisions, so it makes sense that Zuckerberg would pay up for quality over quantity for Meta's new AI efforts. Another offensive aspect of this is that Meta has arguably more financial resources than its rivals, especially OpenAI, which is considered a start-up and losing tens of billions at the moment. Last year, Meta's "core" social media advertising business brought in a whopping $87.1 billion in operating income, somewhat offset by a $17.7 billion loss in its Reality Labs division. And that $87 billion is probably on track to reach close to $100 billion this year. Therefore, Meta has the ability to pay as much or more than its rivals, and by paying these types of astronomical salaries, it's raising the costs of employment for everybody -- OpenAI included. Zuckerberg continued: ... one of the benefits of reinforcement learning is it gives you a venue to, you know, potentially convert very large amounts of capital into a better and better service, and potentially a better service than other less well-funded or less bold competitors will be able to do so... I view that as a competitive advantage. If we can get this to work well, and that's why we are basically all in on this. We're building, you know, we're building multiple, multi-gigawatt data centers, and we can basically do this all funded from the cash flow of the company. But the move may also be defensive, and isn't without risks While the "all-in" spending binge from Zuckerberg is exciting, investors should also be wary of a few things. First, it appears Meta's AI super intelligence dream team will be essentially starting from scratch. This is likely due to Meta's recent efforts on its Llama 4 LLM coming up short of expectations, or at least falling further behind its other competitors than Zuckerberg would like. So, it appears Meta's latest attempt at leading AI is a bit of a bust, raising questions about the need to put all its chips into the pot, so to speak, at this moment. It has also been reported that Zuckerberg wasn't able to successfully acquire all the companies and talent that he wanted. In addition to Scale AI, Zuckerberg reportedly also wanted to acquire Mira Murati's Thinking Machines and Ilya Sustkever's SSI, but was rebuffed in both cases. It was also reported Zuckerberg extended billion-dollar offers to some of OpenAI's leadership team, but was also rebuffed. So, while Meta now has perhaps the most formidable AI "dream team" around, it isn't a "full" dream team necessarily. Finally, Meta has a history of throwing money at certain far-off ventures, without immediate tangible outcomes. Look no further than the Reality Labs segment, which is basically Zuckerberg's gambit to create the "next computing platform" of virtual reality goggles or glasses. Meta even changed its name from Facebook to Meta Platforms in 2021 to show its commitment to the effort. However, in 2024, three years later, that segment lost $17.7 billion, up from a $16.1 billion loss in 2023. Finally, Zuckerberg didn't really spell out what he exactly meant by an everyday consumer "super intelligence." While both the Reality Labs division and the concept of consumer super-intelligence may one day come to fruition, it's not assured -- even with Zuckerberg assembling an AI "dream team." So while this past month's spending is exciting, look for investors to get impatient if Meta's spending goes up without a corresponding growth in revenue. And yet, the spending makes Meta a must-own stock If one of today's current tech leaders reaches "super intelligence" before the others, it has the potential to disrupt the balance of power among today's Magnificent Seven. That's why any young person or growth investor should have exposure to Meta and its rivals, in spite of their massive AI spending today. If and when one of these companies "cracks the code" before others, it's possible the Magnificent Seven could become the Magnificent Three, Two... or even One. With his moves over the past month, Zuckerberg is investing heavily to make sure Meta is one of the leading candidates to become that "one." Investors should keep their ears out for more information when Meta reports earnings at the end of the month on July 30. Don't miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $448,664!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $39,870!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $687,149!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join , and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of July 14, 2025 Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have positions in Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Just Assembled a "Super Intelligence Avengers" Team That Could Totally Change the Game in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here's Why That Makes Meta a "Must-Own" AI Stock. was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Scale AI reduces workforce following Meta investment
Scale AI, a San Francisco-based data-labelling and technology company, has implemented a significant reduction in its workforce following a multi-billion-dollar investment by Meta. The company confirmed the layoff of 200 employees, which accounts for 14% of its staff. Additionally, it plans to terminate contracts with 500 global contractors. This development comes in the wake of Meta's acquisition of a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3bn, as reported by Bloomberg. Interim CEO Jason Droege communicated the restructuring plans to employees, citing the need to address inefficiencies resulting from rapid expansion. In an internal email to staff, Droege stated that the company had expanded its GenAI capacity too rapidly over the past year. This re-evaluation was prompted by shifts in market demand that necessitated a refined operational strategy. The restructuring targets Scale AI's GenAI division, which is involved in managing projects such as AI chatbots like xAI's Grok and Google's Gemini. According to the email, affected employees have been advised against reporting to the office during this transition period. The company has ensured that departing staff will receive appropriate severance packages. As part of the broader organisational changes, several high-ranking officials, including vice presidents and chiefs of staff, have exited the company following Meta's investment. Despite these shifts, Scale AI claims to maintain a strong financial position and plans to expand its workforce in enterprise and public sector roles later this year. Meta's move to acquire a near-majority stake, albeit without voting rights, in Scale AI is aimed at enhancing its competitive edge against entities like OpenAI. Former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang has transitioned to the role of chief AI officer at Meta and continues to serve on Scale AI's board of directors. Meta is concurrently establishing Meta Superintelligence Labs as part of this collaboration. Scale AI's business model focuses on providing labelled datasets essential for training machine learning models. Its clientele includes major organisations such as Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Recently, Scale AI secured a multi-million-dollar contract with the US Department of Defense, underscoring its role in delivering data solutions for military applications. "Scale AI reduces workforce following Meta investment" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco AI company lays off 200 after Meta's multibillion-dollar deal
Just weeks after Meta invested $14.3 billion into Scale AI and tapped its founder, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new artificial intelligence initiative, the data-labeling startup is cutting roughly 200 full-time employees — about 14% of its staff — and parting ways with 500 contractors worldwide. The cuts, announced in a company-wide memo on Wednesday by interim CEO Jason Droege, mark a dramatic shift for the once high-flying San Francisco startup, which has played a critical role in preparing data for major AI players including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. 'The reasons for these changes are straightforward: we ramped up our GenAI capacity too quickly over the past year,' Droege wrote in the memo obtained by multiple media outlets. 'While that felt like the right decision at the time, it's clear this approach created inefficiencies and redundancies. We created too many layers, excessive bureaucracy, and unhelpful confusion about the team's mission.' Scale AI's generative AI division — the unit at the heart of the layoffs — is being reorganized from 16 pods into five focused teams: code, languages, experts, experimental and audio. The company's go-to-market team will also be consolidated into a single 'demand generation' group. The company emphasized that it remains well-funded and is preparing to 'significantly increase headcount' in enterprise and government-facing business units later this year. The layoffs follow an industry-wide reckoning over shifting partnerships. A spokesperson for the company said affected employees have been provided severance, with full-time roles paid through mid-September.
