Meta Taps AI Prodigy Alexandr Wang to Lead New ‘Super-Intelligence’ Drive

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A full-page advertisement in The Washington Post earlier this year caught the attention of many. “Dear President Trump: America must win the AI war,” it proclaimed. The bold declaration was the work of Alexandr Wang, a 28-year-old billionaire and AI entrepreneur behind Silicon Valley start-up Scale AI.

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While not yet a household name like OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, Scale AI has risen swiftly to become one of the most influential players in the artificial intelligence sector. Its success has catapulted Wang to the forefront of the US tech scene and earned him recognition from global leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Wang’s burgeoning profile has also attracted the interest of Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta founder has reportedly invested $15bn (£11bn) into Scale AI and brought Wang on board to lead Meta’s newly formed “super-intelligence” team. According to a blog post from Scale AI on Friday, Wang will now leave the company to join Meta full-time.

Wang, born to Chinese immigrant parents in Los Alamos, New Mexico, co-founded Scale AI in 2016 with fellow entrepreneur Lucy Guo – now the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire. The company specialises in data labelling and AI evaluation – services vital for training sophisticated AI systems. Its expertise lies in providing “reinforcement learning with human feedback,” where freelancers assist AI models in improving their output through human-guided adjustments.

This niche has proved highly lucrative. Scale AI boasts access to over 100,000 expert freelancers and has paid out more than $500 million to date. The company’s services are now widely sought after by leading tech firms developing advanced AI capabilities in fields such as coding, mathematics and chemistry.

Simon Proffitt from UK-based AI firm Faculty remarked: “To really make AI models useful, you have to have high-quality human feedback. Scale AI offers the platform and the people to fine-tune these models.”

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Wang’s move to Meta comes amid renewed urgency from Zuckerberg to reposition the company at the forefront of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Although Meta’s Llama AI model has made strides, it has struggled to match the progress of OpenAI.

Reports last month indicated that Meta had delayed the release of its latest AI project, codenamed “Behemoth,” due to stagnation. Frustrated with the pace, Zuckerberg has now turned to Wang to spearhead a fresh push.

In an unusual arrangement, Meta will acquire a 49 per cent stake in Scale AI. Though the company will remain technically independent, Wang will retain full voting control, effectively granting him sole authority over its direction while simultaneously leading Meta’s new AI division.

This is Meta’s most substantial investment since its $19bn acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014. It is also likely to draw regulatory scrutiny, particularly in light of Microsoft’s $13bn investment in OpenAI and Google’s recruitment of talent from rival AI firm Character.AI – both of which raised concerns over stealth takeovers.

Zuckerberg has reportedly become directly involved in Meta’s AI efforts, negotiating with top researchers and even rearranging desks at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters to position top talent closer to him.

Wang has also emerged as a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s return to office, issuing an open letter to the former president in January. “You have the right team in place to take on this challenge and ensure we maintain our lead against adversaries,” he wrote. “Scale stands ready to be a partner to you and the administration so that America wins the AI war.”

Wang’s increasingly prominent role on the global AI stage – both in tech and policy – marks a significant shift in the power dynamics of Silicon Valley. For Zuckerberg and Meta, his appointment may offer a renewed shot at staying in the race to unlock the next frontier of artificial intelligence.