Meta’s significant investment in Scale AI may be causing concern among some of the startup’s customers.
According to Reuters, Google had intended to pay Scale $200 million this year, but is now exploring options with competitors and considering cutting ties. Microsoft is also reportedly looking to reduce its relationship with Scale, while OpenAI has made a similar decision in the past months, although its CFO stated the company will continue to collaborate with Scale as one of several vendors.
Scale serves various clients, including self-driving car companies and the U.S. government, but its largest customers are generative AI firms that require specialized workers for data annotation to train their models.
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Google has declined to comment on the report. A spokesperson for Scale also refrained from discussing the company’s relationship with Google but emphasized to TechCrunch that Scale’s business remains robust and that it will continue to operate independently while safeguarding customer data.
Previous reports indicate that Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale for a 49% stake, with Scale CEO Alexandr Wang joining Meta to spearhead efforts in developing “superintelligence.”
