Quick Facts on Alexandr Wang: The 28-Year Old CEO Poached by Meta to Disrupt Global AI Strategy

As Meta continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) amidst intense industry competition, the tech giant has recently tapped a top industry leader to advance its AI strategy.

The tech giant–which owns some of the biggest social media platforms globally–has recently tapped Alexandr Wang, the 28-year-old CEO of AI startup Scale AI, as part of its objective to boost its superintelligence offerings.

What's In The Meta's Investment at Scale AI

In a blog post, Scale AI stated that Alexandr Wang is joining Meta to contribute to its AI initiatives. He will remain on Scale's Board of Directors and continue supporting the company's mission to advance AI while upholding human values.

Moreover, Scale AI plans to use the proceeds from Meta's investment to drive innovation and deepen relationships with key customers.

A portion of the funds will also be distributed to Scale's shareholders and vested equity holders, offering significant liquidity and the chance to retain equity in the company. After the investment, Meta will hold a minority stake in Scale, aligning both companies in the AI space.

Additional reports said that Meta will take a 49% stake for $14.3 billion (£10.55 billion), according to two sources familiar with the matter, as per Reuters.

Who Is Alexandr Wang?

Alexandr Wang is both the founder and CEO of Scale AI, which he founded in 2016 after dropping out of MIT. Under his leadership, Scale secured unicorn status in 2019, expanded its clientele to include OpenAI, Microsoft, GM, Toyota, and government agencies, and developed key subsidiaries—Remotasks and Outlier—for data labelling and model evaluation.

By 2021, it was valued at $7.3 billion (£5.39 billion), tripled its annual recurring revenue, and won major projects in defence, satellite imagery, and autonomous vehicles. With over $2 billion (£1.48 billion) expected 2025 revenue and continued innovation in safety benchmarks (SEAL), Wang has shaped Scale into a critical player in AI infrastructure.

Speaking on his new venture at Meta, he said, 'AI is one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time, with unlimited possibility and far-reaching influence on how people, businesses and governments succeed.'

He added, 'Scale bridges the gap between human values and technology to help our customers realise AI's full potential. Meta's investment recognises Scale's accomplishments and reaffirms that our path forward – like that of AI – is limitless.'

Other Updates on Scale AI's Venture With Meta

With Alexandr joining Meta, Scale AI's board of directors has named Jason Droege, the company's chief strategy officer and interim chief executive officer.

Droege, who joined Scale in September 2024, brings over two decades of experience scaling influential technology companies such as Uber Eats and Axon, known for transforming daily life.

Since arriving at Scale, his leadership has been key in advancing the company's AI lab initiatives and expanding partnerships with enterprise clients. According to the firm, his appointment reflects the board's confidence in his ability to guide Scale through its next phase of growth and innovation during this leadership transition.

Speaking on Jason's appointment, Alexandr said, 'I'm delighted that Jason will lead the next steps in Scale's journey and bring his experience and skill to continue its success. Our bench is deep, and I'm confident that we'll continue serving our valued customers best, providing the highest quality data, and building customised AI applications that transform businesses and governments.'

Meta's Commitment to AI

In January this year, Meta undertook a sweeping AI infrastructure build-out, committing $60–65 billion (£44.26-47.95 billion) in 2025 to expand its data centre network. This included adding over 1 GW of computing and targeting 1.3 million GPUs, including Nvidia H100s and in‑house accelerators.

It has also developed custom chips like MTIA v1/v2 and MSVP, which are optimised for recommendation and generative AI workloads and are now deployed in production.

Moreover, Meta continues to open-source technologies, including Llama, PyTorch, and edge-AI frameworks, to foster community innovation. These investments underpin Meta AI, Reality Labs, and AI-powered advertising platforms–now boosted with its Scale AI investment.