Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is finalizing a deal to buy nearly half of Scale AI for $14 billion. The move aims to boost Meta’s AI capabilities amid fierce competition.

Scale AI, founded in 2016. labels data for companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Tesla. Its work turns raw images, text, and videos into usable formats for training AI models—key for self-driving cars, chatbots, and robots.

As part of the deal, Meta will launch a new AI lab focused on building “superintelligence.” Scale AI’s CEO, Alexandr Wang—a MIT dropout and son of Chinese immigrants—will join the project. Wang once claimed his company is “as vital to AI as Nvidia.”

Scale AI employs over 100.000 contract workers globally but faces criticism over low pay and exposure to harmful content. Despite this, its revenue hit $870 million last year and may double by 2025.

Meta and Scale AI also collaborate on military tech, including a defense-focused AI model. Zuckerberg’s push follows Meta’s underwhelming Llama 4 release in April. He earlier pledged to spend $65 billion on AI this year alone.

The deal, not yet confirmed, would rank among the largest private AI investments ever.