Who is Alexandr Wang? Scale AI’s young billionaire CEO will head Meta’s new ‘superintelligence’ lab

Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram—as well as Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp—has tapped Alexandr Wang, the CEO and founder of the startup Scale AI, to head up its new artificial intelligence research lab, according to The New York Times. It is also in talks to invest over $10 billion in the company, Bloomberg reported.

The lab will be dedicated to pursuing AI “superintelligence”—an AI system that would reportedly surpasses human intelligence—and is part of Meta’s larger reorganization of its AI efforts as it faces internal struggles over the technology and some of its products, per the Times.

Meta is just one of many tech companies to throw its hat into the competitive, high-stakes—and expensive—AI development space. Back in January of this year, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social technology company plans to invest between $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditures this year alone to build out its AI infrastructure. (Meta is also building a large data center that would reportedly “cover a significant part of Manhattan” to power its AI offerings, according to Zuckerberg.)

What does Scale AI do?

Scale AI delivers high-quality training data for AI applications to a number of tech companies in the AI space, including: OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and of course, Meta. The company expects revenue to more than double to $2 billion this year, from about $870 million in 2024, per CNBC.

Scale AI is already working with governments in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and recently signed a deal with Qatar in February that will include developing AI voice, chat, and email agents for contact centers, Business Insider reported. Scale AI also signed a contract with the U.S. Defense Department to enable the military to use AI for “operational decision-making.”

While its financials are confidential, Scale AI is reportedly planning a potential tender offer for employees and early investors at a valuation of $25 billion, BI reported.

Who is Alexandr Wang, the young billionaire behind Scale AI?

Wang founded Scale AI in 2016 in San Francisco at age 19, out of Y Combinator‘s startup incubator, after dropping out of MIT.

In 2022, at age 25, Wang became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire after Scale AI raised $325 million in funding, putting the company at a valuation of $7.3 billion; by 2024, Scale AI was valued at $13.8 billion, the Observer reported.

Wang owns 15% of Scale AI, making his net worth over $2 billion.