Meta is accelerating its push in the AI race. The Silicon Valley giant has begun aggressively hiring top talent for its AI division, and at the forefront of this initiative is Alexandr Wang, who has been appointed as Meta’s new Chief AI Officer. In June 2025, Mark Zuckerberg brought Wang on board to lead Meta’s ambitious Superintelligence Labs, marking one of the most high-profile hires in the company’s history.
Alexandr Wang’s Early Beginnings
Wang’s journey started in 2016 when, at just 19 years old, he co-founded Scale AI with Lucy Guo. The duo joined a startup accelerator program and endured the grind of early startup life—sleeping on air mattresses while working tirelessly to bring their vision to life.
Great to meet @narendramodi and @EmmanuelMacron in Paris today! pic.twitter.com/l5pLBeHNcA
— Alexandr Wang (@alexandr_wang) February 10, 2025
Their efforts paid off. Scale AI quickly gained recognition across the tech industry, impressing investors and reshaping how major tech firms thought about data and AI infrastructure.
Meta’s $14 Billion Hiring Move
Recognizing both Wang’s talent and the potential of his company, Mark Zuckerberg personally recruited him in June 2025. The deal included a staggering $14.3 billion investment into Scale AI, while placing Wang at the helm of Meta’s AI operations.
Now leading a team of industry experts, Wang oversees the company’s Superintelligence program as well as all other AI research and product teams—brought together under the new umbrella of Meta Superintelligence Labs.
Reshaping Meta’s AI Vision
Wang wasted no time making bold changes. According to an internal memo reported by Bloomberg, he announced a restructuring of Meta’s AI division into four dedicated groups, each focusing on critical areas: research, product, and infrastructure.
“Superintelligence is coming,” Wang wrote in the memo, “and in order to take it seriously, we need to organize around the key areas that will be critical to reach it.”
About Alexandr Wang and Scale AI
Born in New Mexico to Chinese immigrant physicists, Wang dropped out of MIT to pursue Scale AI—a decision that turned him into a billionaire in his twenties. Over the years, he has built influential connections in Silicon Valley and Washington D.C., including with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and U.S. lawmakers.
Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides vast amounts of labeled data crucial for training advanced AI systems, leveraging gig workers through platforms like Rotasks and Outlier. By May 2024, Scale AI had reached a valuation of nearly $14 billion, backed by investors such as Nvidia, Amazon, and Meta itself.
Discussion about this post