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Scale AI

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Scale AI, Inc.
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryInformation technology
Founded2016; 9 years ago (2016)
FoundersAlexandr Wang
Lucy Guo
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people
Alexandr Wang (CEO)
Number of employees
600 (2024)
SubsidiariesRemotasks, Outlier.ai
Websitescale.com Edit this at Wikidata

Scale AI, Inc. is an American artificial intelligence company based in San Francisco, California. It provides data labeling and model evaluation services to develop applications for artificial intelligence.

The company’s research arm, the Safety, Evaluation and Alignment Lab (SEAL), focuses on evaluating and aligning large language models,[1] including through initiatives such as Humanity's Last Exam, a benchmark designed to assess advanced AI systems on alignment, reasoning, and safety.[2] Scale AI outsources data labeling through its subsidiaries, Remotasks, which focuses on computer vision and autonomous vehicles,[3] and Outlier, which focuses on data annotation for large language models.[4]

Scale AI's customers in the commercial sector include Etsy, General Motors, OpenAI, PayPal, Pinterest, Samsung, Toyota, and Uber.[5][6] The company also directly works with world governments, including the United States on multiple military-related projects,[7] and with Qatar to improve the efficiency of its social programs.[8]

On March 28th 2025, it was reported that Scale AI was seeking valuation as high as $25 billion in potential tender offer,[9] after it raised $1 billion at at nearly $14 billion value with Amazon funding.[10][11]

History

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Scale was founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang and Lucy Guo through Y Combinator.[12] The pair previously worked together at Quora.[13] Initial investors of Scale included Dragoneer Investment Group, Tiger Global Management and Index Ventures.[14][15][16] Lucy Guo was fired two years later in 2018.[17]

In August 2019, after Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund made a $100 million investment in Scale, its valuation exceeded $1 billion and it acquired Unicorn status.[14][15]

Scale contracted with the United States Department of Defense in 2020.[18]

In May 2021, Michael Kratsios, Chief Technology Officer of the United States under the Trump administration, joined as Scale AI's managing director and head of strategy.[19]

By July 2021, Scale had reached a valuation of $7 billion, after a financing led by Greenoaks, Dragoneer Investment Group and Tiger Global Management.[20] There was an increased demand for data labelling from clients in different industries.[16]

In February 2022, Scale AI developed its Automated Damage Identification Service in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Satellite imagery was analyzed, measuring the damage to buildings, which were then geotagged and reported to humanitarian groups.[21]

In January 2023, Scale laid off 20% of its workforce.[22]

In May 2023, Scale AI signed a deal with the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, becoming the first AI company to deploy its large language model (known as Donovan) on a classified network.[13]

In August 2023, Scale AI’s evaluation platform was used at DEF CON, a hacking convention, at its first generative AI red team event, testing models provided by various companies.[23]

In December 2023, Scale AI was among a list of companies that contributed to Meta Platforms’s Purple Llama initiative, a security framework for the purpose of development of open generative AI models.[24]

In February 2024, Scale AI was selected by the Department of Defense to test and evaluate its large language models for military purposes under a one-year contract.[25]

In March 2024, Scale reached a valuation of almost $13 billion after Accel led another round of funding.[26] In May 2024, Scale raised an additional $1 billion with new investors including Amazon and Meta Platforms. Its valuation reached $14 billion.[27]

In December 2024, Scale was sued by a former employee with allegations that it was committing wage theft and misclassifying workers.[28] The following month, a second employee filed suit against the company citing similar claims.[29] In January 2025, several contractors sued Scale alleging psychological harm from being exposed to toxic material, such as content related to violence and child abuse.[30]

In January 2025, it was reported in The Conversation that Scale AI and Meta had previously teamed up to create and sell Defense Llama, a large-language model product with military-style defense purposes.[31] The company also took out a full-page ad in The Washington Post, appealing to American President Donald Trump to "win the AI war".[32] Later in the month, Scale AI and the Center for AI Safety partnered to release Humanity's Last Exam, a benchmark test for AI systems.[2] The company has also assisted in the development of the benchmarks EnigmaEval, MultiChallenge, and MASK.[33]

In February 2025, Scale AI agreed to a five-year partnership with the Qatari government to improve government services via AI-based tools and training, including predictive analytics, automation, and advanced data analytics.[8] The deal was signed at the Web Qatar 2025 Summit by Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, the Qatari Minister of Communications and Information Technology.[34] Also in February, the company became a third-party evaluator of AI models for the U.S. AI Safety Institute.[1]

In March 2025, Scale AI reached a deal with the United States Department of Defense to develop the Thunderforge project. The project aims to use AI to “plan and help execute movements of ships, planes, and other assets”, with the goal of speeding up military decisions in both peace and wartime. The contract was awarded to Scale AI and other companies (such as Anduril Industries and Microsoft) by the Defense Innovation Unit, and is intended to first be used with the USINDOPACOM and EUCOM.[7]

In April 2025, Scale AI released Scale Evaluation, a platform used to test large language models against benchmarks to pinpoint weaknesses and flag where additional training data would improve the model.[33]

Remotasks

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In 2017, Scale AI established Remotasks, a crowdworking platform to support the creation of labeled data for machine learning, particularly in areas such as computer vision and autonomous vehicles.[14][35][3] The subsidiary has facilities in Southeast Asia and Africa.[14][35]

In 2019, Scale AI set up a company called Smart Ecosystem Philippines to operate Remotasks within the country.[35] In the Philippines, many of Remotasks' hires are freelance contractors not covered under labor laws.[35] The pay for some annotation tasks dropped to less than one cent due to "vicious competition" after Remotask expanded to India as well as Venezuela.[35] Late payments are reportedly "commonplace", and some workers received only a few percent of their promised compensation.[35] In 2022, a University of Oxford study said Remotasks met the "minimum standards of fair work" in only two out of ten criteria.

Remotasks has been criticized for obscuring its affiliation with Scale AI, opaque communications, and abrupt changes in worker access in some regions.[14][35] In early 2024, the platform terminated operations in several countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan, citing administrative and operational considerations.[36]

Outlier

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Outlier is a separate contributor platform operated by Scale AI, designed for generative AI data work, particularly in the development and fine-tuning of large language models (LLMs).[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Alder, Madison (February 10, 2025). "US AI Safety Institute taps Scale AI for model evaluation". FedScoop.
  2. ^ a b Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (January 25, 2025). "Scale AI's 28-Year-Old Billionaire CEO Warns About This Scarily Good Chinese Startup". Observer.
  3. ^ a b Meaker, Morgan (February 20, 2024). "The Skilled Workers Training AI to Take Their Jobs". Wired.
  4. ^ a b Nieva, Richard (March 6, 2025). "A Growing Side Hustle For American College Grads: Fixing AI's Wrong Answers". Forbes.
  5. ^ Scale AI's 22-Year Old CEO Wants to Improve the Safety of Self-Driving Cars, August 8, 2019, retrieved January 14, 2024
  6. ^ "Data-labeling company Scale AI is worth $7.3 billion after new funding round". Fortune. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  7. ^ a b De Vynck, Gerrit (March 5, 2025). "Pentagon signs AI deal to help commanders plan military maneuvers". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ a b Mills, Andrew (February 24, 2025). "Qatar signs deal with Scale AI to use AI to boost government services". Reuters.
  9. ^ "Scale AI seeking valuation as high as $25 billion in potential tender offer, Business Insider reports". Reuters. March 28, 2025. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
  10. ^ "Scale Valued at Nearly $14 Billion With Amazon Funding". Bloomberg.
  11. ^ "Scale AI Expects to More Than Double Sales to $2 Billion in 2025". Bloomberg.
  12. ^ Tremayne-Pengelly, Alexandra (January 25, 2025). "Scale AI's 28-Year-Old Billionaire CEO Warns About This Scarily Good Chinese Startup". Observer.
  13. ^ a b De Vynck, Gerrit (October 22, 2023). "Some tech leaders fear AI. ScaleAI is selling it to the military". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  14. ^ a b c d e Cai, Kenrick (April 11, 2023). "How Alexandr Wang Turned An Army Of Clickworkers Into A $7.3 Billion AI Unicorn". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 6, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Vance, Ashlee (August 5, 2019). "Silicon Valley's Latest Unicorn Is Run by a 22-Year-Old". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Loten, Angus (July 12, 2021). "Scale AI's Rapid Growth Reflects Widening Demand for Smart Software". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  17. ^ Weinberg, Cory (June 28, 2024). "Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang's Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley". The Information. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  18. ^ Jeans, David (February 2, 2024). "Scale AI Quietly Scrapped Deal With Chinese-Owned TikTok Over Security Concerns". Forbes. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  19. ^ Soper, Taylor (April 13, 2021). "Tech Moves: Ex-Amazon leader Jeff Wilke joins Scale AI as advisor to CEO; Skilljar and Auth0 hire execs; T-Mobile board shuffle". GeekWire.
  20. ^ "Scale AI's Series E: Deploying AI Across Every Industry". scale.com. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
  21. ^ Ufberg, Max (May 2, 2023). "This tool is helping Ukraine automatically detect when its buildings get damaged". Fast Company.
  22. ^ Chatterjee, Poulomi (January 16, 2023). "Scale AI was Scaling Till Clienteles Refused to Buy it Anymore". Analytics India Magazine. Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  23. ^ Goldman, Sharon (August 10, 2023). "Legions of DEF CON hackers will attack generative AI models". VentureBeat.
  24. ^ Columbus, Louis (December 11, 2023). "Meta champions a new era in safe gen AI with Purple Llama". VentureBeat.
  25. ^ Vincent, Brandi (February 20, 2024). "Scale AI to set the Pentagon's path for testing and evaluating large language models". DefenseScoop.
  26. ^ Clark, Kate (March 28, 2024). "Scale AI Nears $13 Billion Valuation in Accel-Led Round". The Information.
  27. ^ León, Riley de (May 21, 2024). "Amazon, Meta back Scale AI in $1 billion funding deal that values firm at $14 billion". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 23, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  28. ^ Council, Stephen (December 13, 2024). "SF tech startup Scale AI, worth $13.8B, accused of widespread wage theft". SFGATE.
  29. ^ Rollet, Charles (January 9, 2025). "Exclusive: Scale AI hit by its second wage theft lawsuit in less than a month". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 11, 2025.
  30. ^ Rollet, Charles (January 22, 2025). "Scale AI is facing a third worker lawsuit in about a month". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  31. ^ Schwarz, Elke (January 16, 2025). "The Silicon Valley venture capitalists who want to 'move fast and break things' in the defence industry". The Conversation.
  32. ^ Blum, Sam (January 21, 2025). "Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang Writes Letter to President Trump: 'America Must Win the AI War'". Inc Magazine.
  33. ^ a b Knight, Will (April 2, 2025). "This Tool Probes Frontier AI Models for Lapses in Intelligence". Wired.
  34. ^ Noureldin, Ola (February 23, 2025). "Qatar Partners With Scale AI To Enhance Government Services With AI-Powered Tools". Forbes Middle East.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g Tan, Rebecca (August 28, 2023). "Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in 'digital sweatshops'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 24, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  36. ^ Branndom, Russell (March 28, 2024). "Scale AI's Remotasks platform is dropping whole countries without explanation". Rest of World. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
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