June 10 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) has agreed

to take a 49% stake in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI

for $14.8 billion, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing

two people familiar with the matter.

Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides vast amounts of labeled

data or curated training data, which is crucial for developing

sophisticated tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The deal, which has not been finalized yet, appears to be

beneficial for Scale AI's investors, including Accel, Index

Ventures, Founders Fund and Greenoaks Capital, as well as its

current and former employees, the report said.

Meta, Scale AI and the startup's investors did not

immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

As part of the deal, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang will take a

top position inside Meta, leading a new "superintelligence" lab,

according to the report.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting top AI

researchers to boost the company's AI efforts, the report said.

The company is fighting the perception that it may have

fallen behind in the AI race after its initial set of Llama 4

large language models released in April fell short of

performance expectations.

Meta delayed the release of its flagship "Behemoth" AI model

due to concerns about its capabilities, the Wall Street Journal

reported last month.

The company is also facing antitrust concerns related to its

acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

According to The Information report, the structure for the

potential deal with Scale AI could be designed to avoid more

regulatory scrutiny.

Scale AI was valued at $13.8 billion in a funding round last

spring. It generated about $870 million in revenue in 2024 and

expects more than $2 billion this year, the report said.

The company counts AI firms OpenAI and Cohere as well as

tech giants Microsoft, Meta and Cisco Systems among its

customers, according to its website.