Meta’s US$14.8b Scale AI deal latest test of data partnerships, page-4

Reposting from another thread. I see this as a potential opportunity for Appen to gain more clients. Noting that OpenAI has been vetting potential new partners, rather than building up their own.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardnieva/2025/06/12/scale-ais-business-could-collapse-if-meta-buys-a-stake-and-hires-its-ceo/
OpenAI, one of its most prominent customers, has already been winding down its work with Scale, according to four sources with knowledge of its business; two sources said this has been happening for months and OpenAI has been vetting potential new partners.

https://time.com/7293552/meta-scale-ai-workers/
Meta’s investment also calls into question whether Scale AI will continue supplying data to OpenAI and Google, two of its major clients. In the increasingly competitive AI landscape, observers say Meta may see value in cutting off its rivals from annotated data — an essential means of making AI systems smarter.“By buying up access to Scale AI, could Meta deny access to that platform and that avenue for data annotation by other competitors?” says Cant.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/meta-finalizes-investment-scale-ai-valuing-startup-29-billion-2025-06-13/
Despite the large investment sum, the deal might not be all good for Scale.Many AI labs that are clients of Scale could decide to discontinue using its services if they were to worry, that since Wang still sits on Scale's board, Meta might obtain an inside track into rivals' priorities around data.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/11/can-scale-ai-and-alexandr-wang-reignite-metas-ai-efforts/
It’s possible that Meta and Wang’s relationship could scare off other AI labs that have traditionally worked with Scale AI. If so, this deal could be a boon for Scale AI’s competitors, such as Turing, Surge AI, and even nonconventional data providers such as the recently launched LM Arena.

https://www.appen.com/blog/ai-data-neutrality