Meta brought Alexandr Wang on board earlier this year as part of a major push to strengthen its AI ambitions. The company appointed him as head of its entire AI operation, placing him at the helm of a massive $14.3 billion investment into his startup. Under Wang’s leadership, the firm has reorganized its AI teams, placing them under a new division dubbed Meta Superintelligence Labs.
When he was just 19, Wang co-founded the AI startup Scale AI alongside Lucy Guo. Back then, the duo were immersed in a startup accelerator, sleeping on mattresses and pushing hard to build their venture from scratch. Over time, Scale AI began turning heads in the technology industry, gaining traction and drawing attention from major players.
Since joining Meta, Wang has been reshaping how its AI operations are structured. He’s divided the AI division into four core groups, aiming to create greater focus and clarity. In an internal memo cited by Bloomberg, Wang wrote that to take superintelligence seriously, the company must organize around “research, product and infra” — the key pillars he identifies as central to reaching long-term goals.
Wang hails from New Mexico and was born to physicists who emigrated from China. He enrolled at MIT, but dropped out to fully commit to Scale AI. As Scale AI grew, Wang established networks in both Silicon Valley and Washington D.C., linking with figures like OpenAI’s Sam Altman and influential policymakers.
Scale AI’s core business is supplying large, labeled datasets for training advanced AI systems — a critical component for many AI models. It organizes and pays a distributed workforce (via platforms such as Rotasks and Outlier). In May 2024, Scale AI was valued at nearly $14 billion, with backing from heavyweights like Nvidia, Amazon, and Meta.
