AI will be able to deliver immense benefits to mankind; in a manner no one would have ever thought. See the example of AlphaFold. While AI behemoths will try to keep it self-contained, interdependence or in a way outsourcing or expertise / skill sourcing is there to say. Such companies will also have a say in the AI alignment of the world in the days to come. Any major differences / shifts will make or mar companies or the least slow down their pace of AI, which will ultimately turn suicidal for the company. Some would try to reinvent themselves for AI, how much they succeed only time will tell.
AI First,” is the vision, slogan and core practice of any company if it needs to be competitive in today’s world. Meta was of the opinion that it is losing out in the AI race after the non-promising launch of Llama 4 and the delay in the release of ‘Behemoth’ for capability reasons. In this backdrop we have to see Meta taking over 49% stake in the AI data labelling company and its CEO and top brains start working for Meta. The company in question is Scale AI and its CEO Alexandr Wang. He will head a brand new “super-intelligence” initiative at Meta and will be reporting to Meta CEO.
This has led to a gruesome business war. In a direct response, Google Scale AI’s largest customer, decided to cut its ties with Scale AI. Google had planned to pay $200 million this year for the human labeled training data important for sophisticated AI models that power Gemini, its ChatGPT competitor. To fulfil its disengagement Google held conversations with several Scale AI rivals. Scale AI seems to be fine with significant business loss on this count as Meta takes a big stake in the company. Scale’s core business is concentrated around a few customers; it could suffer greatly if it loses key customers like Google.
Other major tech companies on the Scale AI’s customer list, including Microsoft, are also backing away. It is also being heard that Elon Musk’s xAI is also looking for an exit. OpenAI had decided to pull out of Scale AI several months back. Now OpenAI CFO says they will continue to work with OpenAI as one its many data vendors. Casual indeed. What is the real catch? With Meta’s overwhelming stock share, AI companies are concerned that one of their chief rivals could gain knowledge about their business strategy and technical blueprints.
AT THE END OF THE DAY AI IS BUSINESS AND IT IS BEING PLAYED IN THAT MANNER.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.