Meta Hires Safe Superintelligence Execs After Failed $32B Acquisition

Meta has aggressively expanded its AI capabilities through a series of strategic moves, including a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a company vital for training data pipelines, effectively reshaping AI data infrastructure and prompting competitors like Google and OpenAI to pause projects and shift workloads. Following a failed $32 billion acquisition attempt of Safe Superintelligence, founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Meta pivoted to recruit key executives Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman, integrating them under Scale AI's leadership and taking a stake in their venture firm NFDG. These hires, along with the Scale AI investment, are part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's broader effort to maintain Meta's competitive edge in the AI arms race by securing exclusive access to high-quality data, accelerating AI development timelines, and controlling critical data pipelines. The strategic emphasis is shifting from merely compute power to data quality and availability, with Meta positioning itself to dominate AI governance, evaluation tools, and specialized AI platforms that are forecasted to grow significantly. Meta’s moves have triggered regulatory scrutiny and caused major AI players to reconsider their relationships with Scale AI, highlighting the escalating competition for AI talent and resources. Overall, Meta’s investments and talent acquisitions demonstrate a multi-faceted approach to securing AI infrastructure leadership amid intense industry rivalry.