Meta’s big investment in Scale AI may be giving some of the startup’s customers pause.
Reuters reports that Google had planned to pay Scale AI $200 million this year but is now having conversations with its competitors and planning to cut ties. Microsoft is also reportedly looking to pull back, and OpenAI supposedly made a similar decision months ago, although its CFO said the company will continue working with Scale AI as one of many vendors.
Scale AI’s customers include self-driving car companies and the U.S. government, but Reuters says its biggest clients are generative AI companies seeking access to workers with specialized knowledge who can annotate data to train models.
Google declined to comment on the report. A Scale AI spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s relationship with Google, but he told TechCrunch that the startup’s business remains strong and that it will continue to operate as an independent company that safeguards its customers’ data.
Earlier reports suggest that Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI for a 49% stake in the company, with CEO Alexandr Wang joining Meta to lead the company’s efforts to develop “superintelligence.”
