Is our data safe with a vendor that serves rival labs?

Ownership is the first thing to check. Meta has held 49% of Scale AI since June 2025, which matters to any lab that competes with Meta. Surge AI says it has never taken outside funding, so no lab owns part of it. Ask every vendor for its owners, its SOC 2 report and its incident history before a pilot.

Is Scale AI owned by Meta?

Meta owns 49% of Scale AI, under a June 2025 deal reported at $14.3B to $15B, and Scale's founder Alexandr Wang joined Meta. Reports say Meta's stake carries no voting rights. Scale said the investment valued it above $29B.

Are Outlier and Remotasks part of Scale AI?

Yes. Outlier says it is operated by Scale AI, and Remotasks says it is powered and backed by Scale AI. Both are worker platforms, so anyone working on them is working within the company that is 49% owned by Meta.

What are the best Scale AI alternatives?

For labs avoiding Meta's 49% stake, the largest independent options by reported revenue are Mercor (above $2B gross run rate), Surge AI ($1B to $1.2B in 2024, no outside investors) and Handshake AI (about $1.15B gross ARR). Turing reported about $300M ARR. Check each one's ownership, security record and pilot terms.

Scale AI review: score, facts and incidents

Our verdict

Scale AI is the best known name in AI training data, but since June 2025 Meta has held 49% of it and its founder joined Meta. For any lab or company that competes with Meta, that ownership is the deciding fact. Scale says the deal valued it above $29B. It publishes too little on quality and pricing for a full score.

By Lead analyst (to be named) placeholder · Reviewed by Reviewing editor (to be named) · Updated 14 Oct 2026

The facts, with receipts

Every row links to its source.

Scale AI facts
Fact	Value and source
Valuation	Above $29B with Meta's investment [2] Scale AI blog · company's own claim ·
Ownership	Meta holds 49% after a deal reported at $14.3B; founder Alexandr Wang joined Meta Reports put the price between $14.3B and $15B. Meta's stake is reported to carry no voting rights. Sources differ: The reported price ranges from $14.3B to $15B across outlets. [1] TechCrunch ·

How we rated them

The rating for AI teams is a weighted average of the parts below, using only what is published. See how we rate.

Not enough public information to draw this chart yet. We only chart what a source supports.

Expert depth and vetting (25%)No data
No public evidence yet.
Quality systems (20%)No data
No public evidence yet.
Security and neutrality (20%)5.0
Part-owned (49%) by Meta, which competes with many of its customers.¹
Scale and speed (20%)No data
No reported run rate in our sources.
Transparency (15%)No data
No public evidence yet.

Provenance

Where the work comes from and who stands behind it. Anything we cannot source says so.

Where the workforce is located: Not disclosed
How experts are vetted: Not disclosed
Annotation platform or tooling: Not disclosed
Subcontracting: Not disclosed
Security certifications: Not disclosed
Ownership: 49% held by Meta since June 2025¹

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Valued above $29B with Meta's investment²
Runs large worker platforms in Outlier and Remotasks^3,4

Weaknesses

Meta holds 49%, a conflict for labs that compete with Meta¹
Founder Alexandr Wang left to join Meta¹

Incidents and conflicts

Meta holds 49% after a deal reported at $14.3B; founder Alexandr Wang joined Meta¹
Reports put the price between $14.3B and $15B. Meta's stake is reported to carry no voting rights.
13 Jun 2025

Reader reviews

What people who worked with Scale AI say

Our score

n/a/10

From sourced facts and the published rubric.

Reader average

None yet

0 published reviews. Shown beside our score, never blended into it.

Rating spread

Summary of reviews · not generated yet

A written summary appears once enough reviews are published. It will quote both praise and complaints.

No reviews yet. Be the first.

If you have sold data to, hired, or worked for Scale AI, your review helps the next person decide.

Our rules: every review is checked before it is published, negative reviews are never hidden, companies can reply but cannot remove a review, and reviewers must disclose any connection to the company. Reviews imported from other sites are labelled and never counted.

FAQ

Scale AI: questions, answered

Ownership is the first thing to check. Meta has held 49% of Scale AI since June 2025, which matters to any lab that competes with Meta. Surge AI says it has never taken outside funding, so no lab owns part of it. Ask every vendor for its owners, its SOC 2 report and its incident history before a pilot.^1,5
Meta owns 49% of Scale AI, under a June 2025 deal reported at $14.3B to $15B, and Scale's founder Alexandr Wang joined Meta. Reports say Meta's stake carries no voting rights. Scale said the investment valued it above $29B.^1,2
Yes. Outlier says it is operated by Scale AI, and Remotasks says it is powered and backed by Scale AI. Both are worker platforms, so anyone working on them is working within the company that is 49% owned by Meta.^3,4,1
For labs avoiding Meta's 49% stake, the largest independent options by reported revenue are Mercor (above $2B gross run rate), Surge AI ($1B to $1.2B in 2024, no outside investors) and Handshake AI (about $1.15B gross ARR). Turing reported about $300M ARR. Check each one's ownership, security record and pilot terms.^1,6,7,5,8,9

Change log

14 Oct 2026First published.

Sources (9)

1.TechCrunch, published 13 Jun 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
2.Scale AI blog, published 12 Jun 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
3.Outlier website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
4.Remotasks website. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
5.Forbes. Accessed 14 Oct 2026. Company's own claim.
6.Dealroom, citing The Information, published 6 Jul 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
7.Reuters (via AOL), published 1 Jul 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
8.Dealroom, citing The Information, published 14 Apr 2026. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.
9.TechCrunch, published 6 Mar 2025. Accessed 14 Oct 2026.