Meta Grabs 49% of Scale AI—But Scale Insists ’We’re Still Calling the Shots’

Meta’s deep pockets just bought nearly half of Scale AI—but the data-labeling powerhouse isn’t bending the knee.

The Silicon Valley Power Play

Zuckerberg’s empire now holds a 49% stake in the AI training data giant, yet Scale’s leadership insists operational control remains untouched. ‘We’re the ones training the models,’ snaps a Scale exec. ‘Even Meta can’t algorithm its way out of that reality.’

The Independence Charade

Every startup claims autonomy after an acquisition—until the checks clear and the ‘synergy’ meetings begin. Scale’s protestations reek of contractual obligations and NDAs, not defiance. Meanwhile, Meta’s CFO grins somewhere, calculating how soon they can ‘streamline’ those pesky independent board seats.

The Cynic’s Take

Another ‘partnership’ where one side brings the tech and the other brings… a checkbook. At least this time it’s not your grandma’s retirement fund buying the dip.

TLDRs;

• Scale AI insists it remains neutral despite Meta’s 49% stake and $14.3 billion investment.
• CEO Jason Droege says Meta gets no extra board power or access to internal customer data.
• Only a small number of Scale employees joined Meta after the deal.
• The company expects $2 billion in 2025 revenue while serving a diverse range of clients and industries.

Scale AI has sought to reassure its clients and industry watchers that it remains fully independent, even after Meta acquired a 49 percent stake in the company for $14.3 billion.

The deal, which grants Meta significant influence but stops short of a majority ownership, raised questions across the AI sector about how this investment might affect Scale’s neutrality in serving a broad customer base.

Interim CEO Jason Droege was quick to address these concerns. In a Tuesday statement, he emphasized that Meta will not receive any special treatment despite its sizable financial commitment.

“There’s no preferential access that they have to anything,” Droege said. “They are a customer, and we will support them like we do our other customers, that’s the extent of the relationship.”

The company, which has been a Scale client since 2019, will have no access to privileged customer data and will not be given additional seats on the company’s board beyond that held by co-founder Alexandr Wang. Wang recently joined Meta to lead its superintelligence research lab, a MOVE that has intensified scrutiny over the partnership.

Customer Data Firewalls Stay Intact

Droege also confirmed that only a handful of Scale employees, fewer than a dozen out of 1,500, have transitioned to Meta, further underscoring the limited personnel overlap. As competition intensifies in the AI infrastructure market, Scale’s public commitment to confidentiality and security remains central to its strategy. The company has reiterated its adherence to strict data governance protocols and compliance with certifications such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001.

The startup currently serves a wide range of clients, from Fortune 500 firms to U.S. government agencies. Droege reaffirmed that the company’s offerings will not be tailored solely around Meta’s needs, including its Llama model family. Instead, Scale is expanding its AI services into healthcare, telecom, and education, while continuing to support multiple foundation models across the ecosystem.

Revenue Surge Highlights Market Momentum

Scale AI’s business trajectory reflects growing demand for high-quality data infrastructure in AI. After generating $870 million in revenue in 2024, the company expects that figure to more than double to $2 billion by the end of 2025. The company’s expansion from data labeling into application-level services is also beginning to pay off, with those offerings already bringing in nine-figure revenue.

Its latest valuation of $29 billion underscores just how vital data infrastructure has become in the broader AI value chain. As artificial intelligence moves from experimental use cases into enterprise adoption, providers like Scale are becoming key strategic partners rather than mere back-end vendors.

Tightrope Between Trust and Growth

The partnership with Meta mirrors a broader trend among big tech firms, which are investing heavily in specialized AI companies to enhance their capabilities without triggering regulatory scrutiny that might come with full acquisitions. Meta’s stake follows a similar playbook as Microsoft’s involvement with OpenAI and Amazon’s investment in Anthropic.

However, Scale’s situation is uniquely delicate. Reports have suggested that rival AI developers such as OpenAI and Google may be distancing themselves from the company out of concern that Meta could gain indirect insights into their development processes. This has placed even greater pressure on Scale to publicly affirm its independence and safeguard client data.

As the data labeling market is projected to triple in size by 2030, Scale’s challenge will be to continue scaling its business while keeping trust and neutrality intact. For now, the company insists its foundation is solid, even as Meta looms larger in its ownership structure.