Meta Platforms is in talks to make an investment that could exceed $10 billion in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. The terms of the deal were not yet finalized and could still change, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Scale AI declined to comment and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours. Founded in 2016, Scale AI is a data labeling startup backed by tech giants Nvidia, Amazon and Meta. Last valued at nearly $14 billion, Scale AI also provides a platform for researchers to exchange AI-related information, with contributors in more than 9,000 cities and towns.
In 2024, the company was valued at around $14 billion following a funding round supported by tech giants Meta and Microsoft. For Meta, this marked its largest-ever external investment in artificial intelligence.
This move represents a significant change in strategy for the social media giant, which has traditionally focused on internal research and open-source development to drive its AI progress.
To give some context, Microsoft has poured more than $13 billion into OpenAI, while Amazon and Alphabet have each committed billions to competing firm Anthropic.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a central focus for the company’s future. Earlier this year, he revealed plans to allocate up to $65 billion toward AI initiatives in 2025.
Among these initiatives is Llama, Meta’s AI chatbot, which is already integrated into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reaching one billion users every month worldwide.
With inputs from Reuters
