OpenAI and Google have halted their collaboration with the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Scale AI, entering a phase of separation. This action appears to be a response to Scale AI receiving large investments from rival Meta Platforms (hereafter referred to as Meta), amid fears that their data strategy could be exposed to Meta.
Bloomberg reported on the 18th (local time) that OpenAI plans to terminate its cooperation with Scale AI just days after Meta decided to invest over $10 billion in Scale AI and recruit its founder. OpenAI acknowledged the push to end the collaboration, stating that this had been planned since before Meta's equity acquisition. OpenAI explained it is seeking other partners capable of providing more specialized data.
In contrast, Sarah Fryer, OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, had stated just after the announcement of the contract between Meta and Scale AI that 'mergers and acquisitions will continue, but cooperation will persist,' drawing attention to the background of this directional shift.
Google was also reportedly planning to invest around $200 million in Scale AI, but it is known that this has recently been canceled. The background of these two companies severing their ties with Scale AI stems from concerns over the possibility that sensitive AI training data or technological strategies could flow to a competitor following Scale AI’s partnership with Meta.
Scale AI possesses technology essential for refining and enhancing data critical to AI training, with a strong capability to identify and reprocess data that models have incorrectly predicted. Since its establishment in 2016, it has expanded its presence, working with clients such as Google, OpenAI, and Meta.
However, the situation changed when Scale AI secured an investment of $14.3 billion through its contract with Meta, which has acquired 49% equity. This investment has been assessed as being equivalent to a de facto acquisition, despite lacking voting rights, with Meta also recruiting Scale AI’s founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alexander Wang, as well as many engineers.
CEO Wang dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) computer science program and founded Scale AI at 19, with initial investments from Y Combinator, whose representative at the time was Sam Altman, now CEO of OpenAI. It is reported that CEO Wang and CEO Altman were close enough to spend several months together during the pandemic.