Meta Buys Into Scale AI — But OpenAI Refuses to Walk Away

OpenAI has announced it will maintain its partnership with Scale AI, even after Meta made headlines by acquiring a 49% stake in the data-labeling company for a staggering $14.8 billion. The update came from OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, during her remarks at the VivaTech 2025 conference in Paris.

Scale AI plays a critical role in supplying the curated data that fuels advanced artificial intelligence models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The data it provides is essential for training systems to understand language, context, and user intent. With Meta now holding a near-majority share and bringing Scale’s CEO Alexandr Wang onboard to lead its new superintelligence unit, industry watchers speculated on how this would affect Scale’s relationships with other major tech players.

But OpenAI made its position clear: competition doesn’t mean cutting off collaboration.

“We’re not interested in freezing out the ecosystem just because mergers or investments happen,” said Friar. “If we start isolating each other, it could slow down innovation across the entire field.”

Friar emphasized that OpenAI’s approach remains vendor-diverse. “We don’t just work with Scale. We source data from multiple partners,” she added, highlighting the company’s broader strategy of maintaining flexibility and tapping into a wide range of expertise.

As AI models become more complex, they increasingly require highly specialized training input — not just massive amounts of data, but data refined by experts in their fields. OpenAI now collaborates with professionals from backgrounds including science, history, and academia — some holding PhDs — to ensure its models are trained with high-quality, accurate information.

While Meta’s investment in Scale signals a more aggressive push into the AI space, OpenAI’s response suggests it sees more value in cooperation than in conflict. By keeping partnerships open, the company aims to maintain a competitive edge while supporting a broader, faster-growing AI ecosystem.

Also Read: Google Launches Secret AI App That Works Without Internet — Here’s What It Can Do on Your Phone