As artificial intelligence continues to shape the future of global industry and innovation, few names have risen as impactfully as Alexandr Wang. At just twenty-eight years old, Wang has not only carved his name into tech history but has become one of the central architects of AI infrastructure on a global scale.
The co-founder and CEO of Scale AI, Wang recently made headlines after his company secured a landmark $14.3 billion investment from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, pushing Scale AI’s valuation to an incredible $29 billion.
With Meta now owning a 49% stake in Scale AI, Wang has taken on a new role within Meta’s internal AI team. The announcement, made official on 13 June 2025, reaffirmed Wang’s status not just as a successful entrepreneur, but as a defining force in the future of artificial intelligence.
Behind this multi-billion-dollar deal lies the remarkable story of a gifted young man whose journey began in the scientific town of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The Early Life of Alexandr Wang
Born in 1997, Alexandr Wang grew up in Los Alamos. His parents were Chinese migrants, who both worked as physicists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
By the time he was in secondary school, Wang had already distinguished himself as a prodigy. He was a finalist in the USA Computing Olympiad in both 2012 and 2013, qualified for the Math Olympiad Program in 2013, and was selected for the United States Physics Team in 2014. These achievements predicted a trajectory to future success.
After graduating from Los Alamos High School, Wang moved to Silicon Valley where he worked as a software engineer at Addepar, a financial technology company, and later as a programmer at Quora. He briefly enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying machine learning, before dropping out at the age of nineteen to co-found what would become one of the most influential AI companies of the decade—Scale AI.
The Birth of Scale AI by Alexandr Wang
Wang founded Scale AI in 2016, with the company providing data annotation, labelling, and evaluation services to support the training of artificial intelligence models.
Though initially focused on industries like autonomous driving, the company quickly diversified, supplying its services to sectors as varied as national defence, healthcare, logistics, and financial services. Its reputation gained the attention of high-level stakeholders.
Former Amazon executive Jeff Wilke joined as an advisor, and the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office later selected Scale to evaluate large language models for critical military operations.
In 2021, the company reached a valuation of $7.3 billion, briefly making Wang the youngest self-made billionaire in the world at age twenty-four. And by April 2025, Forbes pegged his personal net worth at $3.6 billion.
The Meta Investment: A Turning Point for Wang
While Scale AI’s early rise was impressive, the $14.3 billion Meta investment announced in June 2025 marked a transformative moment. The deal valued the company at $29 billion, significantly raising the stakes not just for Scale, but for the broader AI industry.
As part of the transaction, Scale’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Droege, stepped in as interim CEO, while Wang transitioned from day-to-day leadership to a strategic role on Scale’s board. More importantly, he joined Meta’s internal AI team, positioning himself at the nexus of two of the world’s most powerful AI engines.
A Public Intellectual in the Age of AI
Wang’s influence extends well beyond the boardroom. Over the past two years, he has stepped into the public arena, testifying before Congress, advising military leaders, and shaping global discourse on AI’s ethical, strategic, and economic implications.
In July 2023, he appeared before a House Armed Services subcommittee to discuss the challenges facing AI adoption within the U.S. government. A year later, he introduced Scale AI’s “MEI” policy—an acronym for Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence—which he framed as an alternative to traditional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices.
In January 2025, Wang also attended the second inauguration of President Donald Trump. Later that month, he addressed the World Economic Forum, warning of the intensifying technological competition between the United States and China, particularly with regard to advancing capabilities of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab.
By February, Wang was holding private meetings with world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The agenda in each of these meetings was the same: strengthening global cooperation and regulatory alignment in artificial intelligence development.
Wang’s Recognition and Growing Legacy
Alexandr Wang’s rise has been accompanied by widespread recognition. He was featured twice on Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Technology, in 2018 and again in 2021. He has also been named to both the TIME 100 Next and TIME 100 AI lists.
In 2023, he was appointed to the board of Expedia Group, underscoring his expanding influence in corporate governance far beyond the tech sphere.
A Generational Journey Still Unfolding
At twenty-eight, Alexandr Wang has already accomplished what many people could only dream of. But his story is far from over. His journey is the story of a generational thinker who understood the future of artificial intelligence.
Now splitting roles at Scale AI and Meta, Wang continues to shape the architecture of AI as both a builder and a visionary. His future, much like the technology he champions, remains limitless.
