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Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

nytimes.com

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Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#91

Post by dagmx »

stingraycharles wrote: post #30

From my perspective, Meta is doing pretty reasonable with their AI compared to eg Apple. What is their end goal with AI? I understand Google, Anthropic and OpenAI try to cater to a certain audience with their AI products. I understand the way Apple wants (but is failing) to integrate AI into their products. What’s Meta’s strategy here? What’s their vision?

Their end goal isn’t with AI per se.

Mark wants to own platforms. He always has. That’s why they tried to make a phone, networks, VR headsets, horizon worlds and now glasses.

AI is just their vessel to draw people in. It’s the flash that gets people on board. It’s the commoditizing your complement, in that they want to undercut the competition and have the money to do so, as a means to pull people in rather than lose them to OpenAI or the like who are also trying to build platforms.

Put another way: these companies want to be the next iOS or Android, and they are doing what they can to be as sticky and appealing as possible to make that happen.

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#92

Post by krosaen »

Anyone know what scale does these days beyond labeling tools that would make them this interesting to Meta? Data labeling tools seem more of a traditional software application and not much to do with AI models themselves that would be somewhat easily replicated, but guessing my impression is out of date. Also now apparently their CEO is leaving [1], so the idea that they were super impressed with him doesn't seem to be the explanation.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/13/scale-ai-confirms-signific...

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#93

Post by nroets »

akudha wrote: post #84
paxys wrote: post #79

Spending $15B to hire a 28 year old to build you some AI is certainly a move. You can call Zuck many things, but "afraid to take risks" isn't one of them.

What is the big risk here? He has the cash to burn and he has full control of his position. Nothing will happen to him if he wastes a few Billions. He is not some poor single mom who has to decide between fixing her car and paying for kid’s Christmas presents

If Scale never creates value, he will lose billions of his own money due to his indirect holding in Meta.

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#94

Post by paxys »

hoofhearted wrote: post #88

This is a very interesting buy because Scale AI has been spamming anyone and everyone on freelancer platforms; and they don’t have a very good reputation online so far from people they have contracted with. Just go look at what people say about them on Reddit. It’s rare to find anything positive, or even a single brand champion that had some sort of great experience with them.

Just like Uber, Doordash & co don't have a good reputation among their contract workers. The entire business model is based on exploitation of labor. That doesn't mean it isn't valuable (in a capitalist sense).

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#95

Post by jajko »

strict9 wrote: post #56
Workaccount2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the tech companies, Meta is the most ruthless and shameless. You'd have to be a total fool to trust Zuck, especially Zuck who put billions into AR for not much return and now billions into AI to create lackluster lagging models.

Off base when considering the likes of Palantir and many others. Not a fan of the person or many of Meta's business practices. But Meta has given a lot back with Llama and PyTorch, among many other open source contributions. Which others in the space are not doing.

2 different topics, who you are (as a person, or company or other group of people) isn't some scale where you add + and - and judge final number.

Bad/evil deeds define us 1000x more than positive ones and thats our lasting legacy and how we are/will be judged.

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#96

Post by coliveira »

ml-anon wrote: post #85

The only way to understand this is by knowing: Meta already has two (!!) AI labs who are already at existential odds with one-another and both are in the process of failing spectacularly. One (FAIR) is lead by Rob Fergus (who? exactly!) because the previous lead quit. Relatively little gossip on that one other than top AI labs have their pick of outgoing talent. The other (GenAI) is lead by Ahmad Al-Dahle (who? exact…

These people should better make a lot of money while they can, because for most of them their careers may be pretty short. The half life of AI technologies is measured in months.

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#98

Post by laborcontract »

krosaen wrote: post #92

Anyone know what scale does these days beyond labeling tools that would make them this interesting to Meta? Data labeling tools seem more of a traditional software application and not much to do with AI models themselves that would be somewhat easily replicated, but guessing my impression is out of date. Also now apparently their CEO is leaving [1], so the idea that they were super impressed with him doesn't seem to…

This is by all indications the world's most expensive acquihire of a single person. Reporting has been that Zuckerberg has seen Wang as a confidant of sorts, and has proposed a vision of AI that's said to be non consensus.

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#99

Post by [deleted] »

n2d4 wrote: post #78
gwbas1c wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reverse acquisition? IE, similar to how Disney "bought" Pixar, but much of Pixar's IP overshadows Disney's IP; or how Apple bought Next and the current MacOS is basically NextOS under the hood. It's a technique that companies do to avoid disruption: Buy early stage startups, and by the time they could "disrupt" the parent company, the parent company's management is ready to retire, and the former startup's management…

In what way does Pixar's IP overshadow Disney's? Listing the highest-grossing media franchises [1], Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Star Wars, and Disney Princesses are on #2-#5 respectively, while Pixar's top spot is #16 with Cars. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media...

[deleted]

Re: Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to kick-start superintelligence lab

#100

Post by mlinhares »

nroets wrote: post #93
akudha wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the big risk here? He has the cash to burn and he has full control of his position. Nothing will happen to him if he wastes a few Billions. He is not some poor single mom who has to decide between fixing her car and paying for kid’s Christmas presents

If Scale never creates value, he will lose billions of his own money due to his indirect holding in Meta.

I don't think people understand that once you're a billionaire with full ownership of your business and no risk of being ousted, making or losing billions is irrelevant.
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