Meta is making its first major minority investment in an outside company as it tries to catch up to a growing field of artificial intelligence rivals.

Meta is making a $14.3 billion investment in artificial intelligence company Scale and recruiting its CEO Alexandr Wang to join a team developing “superintelligence” at the tech giant.

Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to fuel a new superintelligence lab—gaining infrastructure and leadership, but raising doubts about Scale’s future.

Data-labeling firm Scale AI confirmed on Friday that it has received a "significant" investment from Meta that values the startup at $29 billion.

Meta's acquisition of Scale AI for a reported US$14.3 billion marks a significant step in its push to strengthen artificial intelligence capabilities, joining the growing wave of US tech giants leveraging acqui-hire deals to stay competitive in the generative AI race.

Alexandr Wang dropped out of MIT to co-found Scale and was quickly lauded as one of Silicon Valley's most promising entrepreneurs, raising funding from blue-chip venture capital firms and achieving billionaire status in his 20s.

This week, the Meta Group acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI. This has apparently also had an impact on the rest of the Scale customer base.

Google has decided to end its partnership with Scfale AI after Meta acquired 49% stake in the company and its CEO, Alexander Wang joined Meta, as concern for data security grows.