19. Scale AI

Founder: Alexandr Wang (CEO)
Launched: 2016
Headquarters: San Francisco
Funding: $600 million
Valuation: $7.3 billion
Key technologies: Artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, deep neural networks/deep learning, edge computing, explainable AI, machine learning
Industry: Enterprise technology
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 0

Artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere these days. And powering it is massive amounts of data — images, text, voice, video — that need to be labeled before it can be useful for machines to digest.

Enter Scale AI. The company got its start labeling data used to train machine learning models that power autonomous driving. It switched gears in 2020 to expand its focus from transportation to include e-commerce, logistics, government and insurance. Now it helps organizations implementing AI by improving the underlying data.

It worked behind the scenes with 2023 No. 1 CNBC Disruptor company OpenAI to improve ChatGPT by better aligning language models with human instructions. Other clients have included SAP, 2023 No. 2 CNBC Disruptor company Brex, and Toyota.

The startup also worked with both the U.S. and Ukrainian governments last year to glean insights into what was happening in Ukraine by running AI algorithms over satellite data and mapping out the level of damage to 370,000 buildings in major cities — on a day-to-day basis. The insights helped to direct humanitarian and medical resources to where they were needed most.  

Scale AI is the brainchild of Alexandr Wang, the son of Chinese immigrants who dropped out of MIT to start the company. As Scale AI grew to its current valuation over $7 billion, he became the world's youngest self-made billionaire, at age 25. The startup has investors such as Tiger Global, Coatue Management and Founders Fund.

Last year, Scale AI rolled out a product that creates AI-generated product images for ad campaigns and social media. It also launched a platform that can build, manage and deploy large language model applications.

But even the biggest buzz in tech isn't immune from growing pains, and maybe growing too fast to date. Faced with a slowing economy and recession fears rippling through capital budgets, many tech companies started layoffs, and Scale AI is no exception. In January, the company said it cut 20% of its workforce.