Alexandr Wang

Alexandr Wang
Wang in 2025
Alexandr Wang
Born	Template:Birth year and month
Birthplace	Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Technology executive, entrepreneur
Title	Chief AI Officer, Meta Platforms
Known for	Co-founding Scale AI; youngest self-made billionaire (2021)
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (attended, did not graduate)
Awards	Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017), TIME 100 AI (2023) Template:Infobox Chinese

Alexandr Wang (Template:Zh; born January 1997) is an American technology executive and entrepreneur who serves as Chief AI Officer at Meta Platforms, where he leads the company's Superintelligence Labs. He is the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Scale AI, an artificial intelligence company that provides data labeling, large language model evaluation, and AI development services to both commercial and government clients. A prodigy in mathematics and physics who grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Wang dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at age 19 to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. In 2021, at the age of 24, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire, a distinction noted by Forbes. His career has traced an arc from a teenage programmer fascinated by machine learning to a central figure in the global AI industry, with Scale AI serving clients ranging from the United States Department of Defense to leading technology companies, and his current role at Meta placing him at the forefront of efforts to develop what the company describes as personal superintelligence.

Early Life

Alexandr Wang was born in January 1997 in Los Alamos, New Mexico, a small city historically associated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the American nuclear weapons program. His parents, both of Chinese descent, were physicists who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, providing an environment steeped in scientific inquiry and technical excellence.

Wang attended Los Alamos High School, where he demonstrated exceptional aptitude in the sciences and mathematics from an early age. In 2014, he was named to the United States Physics Team, a distinction reserved for the top high school physics students in the country who are selected to represent the United States at the International Physics Olympiad. He also excelled in competitive mathematics, winning the PNM Math Contest organized by the University of New Mexico, further underscoring his mathematical abilities during his high school years.

Wang developed an interest in programming and artificial intelligence while still a teenager. He began working on software projects during high school and gained early professional experience in the technology industry before entering college. His upbringing in a household of working scientists, combined with his competitive achievements in mathematics and physics, established a foundation that would shape his later career in AI and technology entrepreneurship.

Education

After graduating from Los Alamos High School, Wang enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the premier science and engineering institutions in the United States. At MIT, he studied computer science and gained exposure to cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning. However, Wang's time at MIT was brief. He dropped out at age 19, before completing his degree, to co-found Scale AI in 2016. His decision to leave MIT placed him among a cohort of prominent technology entrepreneurs who chose to forgo formal education in favor of pursuing startup ventures, a path that has become increasingly common in Silicon Valley.

Career

Early Career and Founding of Scale AI

Prior to founding Scale AI, Wang gained professional experience in the technology sector during his teenage years, including work at the question-and-answer platform Quora, where he was exposed to machine learning applications at scale. This early work experience informed his understanding of a fundamental bottleneck in the development of AI systems: the need for high-quality, labeled training data.

In 2016, at age 19, Wang co-founded Scale AI alongside Lucy Guo. The company was built on the premise that AI development was constrained not primarily by algorithms or computational power, but by the quality and quantity of labeled data available for training machine learning models. Scale AI's initial business model centered on providing data annotation and labeling services—the labor-intensive process of tagging images, text, and other data so that machine learning systems can learn from them.

The company positioned itself as a critical infrastructure provider for the AI industry, serving clients across multiple sectors. Early customers included companies developing self-driving vehicles, which required vast quantities of accurately labeled images and sensor data to train autonomous driving systems. Scale AI differentiated itself by combining human labelers—often referred to as "clickworkers"—with software tools designed to improve the speed, accuracy, and consistency of the data labeling process.

In 2017, at age 20, Wang was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Enterprise Technology category, recognition that came early in Scale AI's existence and reflected the company's rapid growth trajectory.

Scale AI's Growth and Expansion

Scale AI experienced significant expansion as demand for AI and machine learning services grew across the technology industry. By 2019, the company had attracted attention for its rapid growth and its role in supporting some of the most prominent AI development efforts in Silicon Valley.

In 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported on Scale AI's rapid growth, noting that the company's trajectory reflected the widening demand for intelligent software across industries. That same year, former Amazon executive Jeff Wilke joined Scale AI as an advisor, a move that signaled the company's growing stature in the enterprise technology world.

The company's valuation climbed significantly during this period. By 2023, Forbes reported that Wang had built Scale AI into a $7.3 billion AI unicorn, transforming what began as a data labeling operation into a comprehensive AI services platform. The company expanded beyond basic data annotation into areas including large language model evaluation, AI safety testing, and the development of tools for enterprises seeking to deploy AI applications.

Scale AI's workforce model drew both attention and scrutiny. The company relied on a global network of contract workers, many based in countries such as the Philippines, to perform the data labeling tasks that formed the core of its business. The Washington Post reported in 2023 on the working conditions and pay structures for these remote workers, examining the labor dynamics underlying the AI boom. The coverage highlighted the gap between the high valuations of AI companies and the compensation received by the workers who perform the foundational data labeling tasks that make AI development possible.

Government and Defense Contracts

A significant dimension of Scale AI's business involved contracts with the United States government and military. The Washington Post reported in 2023 on Scale AI's work with the U.S. military, examining the company's expanding role in defense applications of artificial intelligence.

In 2024, Scale AI's involvement with the Pentagon expanded further, with the company participating in testing and evaluating large language models for defense purposes. Defense Scoop reported in February 2024 that Scale AI was involved in Pentagon efforts to test and evaluate LLMs, positioning the company as a key player in the government's approach to adopting and assessing advanced AI technologies.

Wang's advocacy for U.S. government investment in AI and his positioning of Scale AI as a bridge between Silicon Valley and the defense establishment represented a notable stance in the technology industry, where some companies and workers have historically resisted military contracts.

Billionaire Status

In 2021, Wang became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 24, according to Forbes. The designation reflected both Scale AI's rising valuation and Wang's significant ownership stake in the company. Yahoo Finance compared his trajectory to that of Elon Musk, describing the then-26-year-old as a leading figure among a new generation of technology entrepreneurs. As of early 2025, Forbes estimated Wang's net worth at $3.6 billion.

Chief AI Officer at Meta Platforms

In 2025, Wang assumed the role of Chief AI Officer at Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In this position, he leads Meta's Superintelligence Labs, the division charged with developing the company's most advanced AI capabilities.

Wang's appointment placed him at the center of Meta's ambitious AI strategy at a time when the company was investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure, talent acquisition, and model development. The Observer reported in February 2026 that Wang had outlined what it described as Meta's "superintelligence playbook," detailing the company's plans to develop personal superintelligence—AI systems designed to serve as highly capable, personalized assistants for individual users.

In February 2026, Wang delivered remarks at the AI Impact Summit in India, where he articulated Meta's vision for personal superintelligence and highlighted India as a key market for scaling AI technologies. He described the concept of AI functioning as a "second brain" for users and stated that India was one of the few countries where personal superintelligence could be scaled rapidly. At the same summit, Wang appeared alongside other prominent AI leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with both executives invoking the concept of superintelligence as a near-term development in the AI field.

Wang also announced India-focused AI initiatives during the summit, including new Meta AI models expected later in the year, and emphasized that AI development must serve society broadly. His remarks at the summit were also published in transcript form, providing a detailed record of his views on AI's trajectory and its implications for global technology policy.

The transition from Scale AI founder to Meta's Chief AI Officer marked a significant shift in Wang's career, moving him from running an independent AI services company to leading AI strategy at one of the world's largest technology corporations. NewsBytes reported that Wang's vision at Meta centered on developing AI systems capable of reasoning, planning, and problem-solving on behalf of individual users, describing the concept as an AI that functions as a personalized cognitive extension.

Personal Life

Wang is of Chinese descent; his Chinese name is 汪滔 (Wāng Tāo). He grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in a household shaped by his parents' careers as physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Wang has spoken publicly about how growing up in a scientific community influenced his intellectual development and interest in technology.

The Information published an in-depth profile examining Wang's rapid rise in Silicon Valley, describing the dynamics of fame, professional rivalries, and fortune that characterized his trajectory in the technology industry.

Wang has participated in public discussions about AI, including an appearance on CNN's First Move with Julia Chatterley podcast, where he discussed Scale AI's business and the broader trajectory of artificial intelligence.

Recognition

Wang has received recognition from multiple outlets for his contributions to the AI industry and his achievements as a young entrepreneur.

In 2017, at age 20, he was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Enterprise Technology category, early recognition that highlighted Scale AI's potential even in the company's formative stages.

In 2021, Forbes identified Wang as the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 24, a distinction that drew significant media attention and placed him among the most financially successful young technology entrepreneurs in history.

In 2023, TIME magazine named Wang to its inaugural TIME100 AI list, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence. The recognition reflected his role in shaping the data infrastructure underlying modern AI systems and his public advocacy for responsible AI development and U.S. competitiveness in the field.

Wang has also been featured in discussions about AI entrepreneurship and venture capital. In 2021, he appeared alongside Accel partner Dan Levine at a TechCrunch Extra Crunch Live event to discuss category creation in the technology industry, reflecting his growing profile as a thought leader in the AI ecosystem.

Legacy

Wang's career, while still in its early stages given his age, has already intersected with several defining developments in the AI industry. Through Scale AI, he identified and commercialized the data labeling bottleneck that constrained AI development, building a company that became a critical service provider for organizations ranging from autonomous vehicle developers to the U.S. military. The company's rise illustrated how infrastructure companies—those providing the underlying tools and services rather than consumer-facing products—could achieve significant scale and valuation in the AI ecosystem.

His trajectory from teenage programmer in Los Alamos to billionaire CEO and, subsequently, Chief AI Officer at one of the world's largest technology companies has made him a prominent example of the opportunities available to technically skilled entrepreneurs in the AI era. The speed of his ascent—from MIT dropout at 19 to billionaire at 24—has been noted as emblematic of the rapid pace of wealth creation in the AI sector during the early 2020s.

Wang's move to Meta in 2025 placed him at the center of the competition among major technology companies to develop advanced AI systems. His articulation of "personal superintelligence" as a near-term goal has contributed to the broader public discourse about the capabilities and risks of advanced AI, a conversation that has intensified as large language models and other AI systems have become increasingly powerful and widely deployed.

The global labor model underlying Scale AI's operations has also raised questions about the economics of AI development, particularly the reliance on low-cost workers in developing countries to perform the data labeling tasks that train AI systems used by some of the wealthiest corporations in the world. This aspect of Scale AI's business has become a point of discussion in debates about the ethical dimensions of AI development and the distribution of value in the AI supply chain.