Scale accounted for a small fraction of OpenAI’s overall data needs, according to an OpenAI spokesperson who confirmed the firm’s decision to phase out work with the company. The ChatGPT maker was already in the process of winding down its reliance on Scale before Meta, an OpenAI competitor, took a 49% stake in the firm, the spokesperson said, adding that OpenAI had been seeking other providers for more specialized data needed to support increasingly advanced artificial intelligence models.
OpenAI’s plans inject new uncertainty into Scale’s business in the wake of Meta’s unusual deal. Meta is investing $14.3 billion in Scale and has poached the startup’s chief executive officer, Alexandr Wang, for a new so-called “superintelligence” unit, focused on building a more powerful, and hypothetical, form of AI software. Other Scale employees are expected to follow Wang to Meta to work on AI.
A Scale AI spokesperson declined to comment.
