Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the annual Snowflake Summit in San Francisco, California on June 02, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
OpenAI is winding down its work with Scale AI, the artificial intelligence startup that received a multibillion-dollar investment from Meta earlier this month and saw its founder join the social media company to lead an AI effort.
Scale is best known for its work helping major tech companies, including OpenAI, prepare data they use to train cutting-edge AI models. But OpenAI has been pulling back from the startup over the last six to 12 months, according to an OpenAI spokesperson.
OpenAI has been looking to work with other data providers that have kept pace with innovation and understand what the latest models need, the spokesperson said. OpenAI’s decision to wrap up its work with Scale AI wasn’t influenced by the Meta partnership, the spokesperson said.
Bloomberg first reported that OpenAI is phasing out its relationship with Scale. Scale AI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Meta is investing $14.3 billion into Scale and will have a 49% stake in the startup. But Meta will not have any voting power at the company, a Scale AI spokesperson told CNBC earlier this month.
Scale AI’s founder Alexandr Wang told employees in a memo that he’s leaving for Meta and will be joined by a small number of employees as part of the agreement. Scale AI is promoting Jason Droege, the chief strategy officer, to the CEO role.
Meta’s big bet on Wang is CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s latest effort to bolster his company’s AI development amid fierce competition from OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on the latest episode of the “Uncapped” podcast, which is hosted by his brother, that Meta has tried to poach OpenAI employees by offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million with even larger annual compensation packages.
Meta has been pouring billions of dollars into AI in recent years, but Zuckerberg has been frustrated with the company’s progress, particularly as the latest version of its flagship Llama AI models received a lukewarm response.
Scale AI previously said that Meta’s investment and hiring of Wang will not impact the startup’s customers, and that Meta will not be privy to any of its business information or data.
–CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report
WATCH: What Meta’s Scale AI deal reveals about the battle for top AI talent
