Exclusive: Scale AI strikes deal with Pentagon
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Data labeling company Scale AI will make its platform available to the Defense Department in a $100 million ceiling contract shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The deal will allow DOD to acquire AI capabilities and deploy them on top secret networks using Scale AI's end-to-end products.
What's inside: The first project under the 5-year deal is a $40.7 million commitment between the Pentagon's Chief Digital and AI Office and Scale AI to provide AI-ready data.
- Unlike other companies offering their specific large language models (LLMs) to the department, Scale AI is offering end-to-end services, the company told Axios.
- That means the company will provide the department with its data engine to prepare DOD's data and its generative AI platform to test models.
- Scale AI said it's also offering its services across secret and top secret networks.
What they're saying: "The promise of AI for national security can only be realized if it operates where the mission happens and on the most sensitive data," Scale AI CEO Jason Droege said.
- "We are moving AI out of the lab and into the hands of operators, providing a decisive advantage at speed and scale," he said in a statement.
The big picture: AI companies are striking deals with the Pentagon as the department looks to modernize and President Trump pushes for defense spending.
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