Scale AI taps former Google Cloud executive as new CEO
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Scale AI has hired former Google Cloud COO Francis deSouza as CEO, year after Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang left the AI infrastructure company for Meta.
Why it matters: Scale hired someone who spent years selling AI and cloud services to enterprises, signaling the firm sees itself as an enterprise AI company rather than a data management firm.
State of play: deSouza replaces interim chief executive Jason Droege, who led the company after Wang left in 2025 following Meta's $14.3 billion investment in the startup.
- DeSouza, who also served as president of Google Cloud's security products business, said he was drawn to Scale because companies today's companies need help turning AI hype into measurable business results.
- "Organizations understand the value and the potential of AI, but they want help realizing that potential and deploying AI responsibly and reliably," deSouza told Axios. "That's a very, very big need."
Catch up quick: Scale AI built its business providing the data and human evaluations used to train leading AI models.
- It has recently expanded into building AI applications for enterprises and governments, including the U.S. Department of Defense.
Between the lines: Scale is in the midst of an expansion beyond its original focus. The company's applications business is on track to overtake its data business within the next 18 months, the company said in a blog post.
- "I think the need for data labeling, for deploying applications, for managing the AI infrastructure is going to continue to grow as companies uncover more and more scenarios where they can apply AI across the organization," deSouza said, signaling he sees the applications business as additive rather than a pivot.
Zoom out: The new CEO is joining the firm at a tense moment in the AI industry following a major security breach from an OpenAI model and concerns about continued access to open-weight systems.
- Several tech executives, including founders of frontier AI labs, signed a letter supporting a slower pace of AI development.
- deSouza did not say he supports a slowdown, instead saying "you have to build responsibility into whatever pace you're going at."
The bottom line: The hire signals Scale is looking to turn from an AI infrastructure company into part of the enterprise layer that helps businesses deploy AI.
