Meta Platforms is pushing a massive AI push, planning to spend up to $145 billion in 2026 to advance its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Earlier in 2025, Meta invested about $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, a deal valuing Scale at roughly $29 billion, and brought Alexandr Wang into a senior AI role at Meta.

Wang, born in 1997 in Los Alamos, New Mexico to a family of physicists, left MIT midway through computer science and math to focus on Scale AI.

Meta released Muse, a personal AI agent that rapidly gained traction and topped Apple’s App Store charts, designed to help with tasks like emailing and travel bookings.

Wang co-founded Scale AI in 2016 at age 19, initially offering data-labeling services to support training AI and machine-learning systems.

The Fool’s Stock Advisor notes Meta isn’t currently among its top 10 stock picks, highlighting a contrast between Meta’s AI push and their stock recommendations.

The Motley Fool argues Meta’s AI strategy revival could yield a long-term competitive edge, calling Act 2 the global rollout where Meta could lead or catch up in recent updates.

Meta’s stock has rebounded, up over 16% year-to-date amid the AI comeback narrative and leadership under Wang.

Wang was hired in 2025 to run Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, accelerating model development and enabling launches like Muse Spark and ongoing updates.

Wang’s path—from leaving MIT at 19 to build Scale and later joining Meta—highlights nontraditional routes into tech and the value of CS, math, AI, and data skills for aspiring technologists.

Scale AI evolved from data-labeling to a broader AI data infrastructure partner for major tech players, becoming a leading name in the AI ecosystem.

Despite optimism, AI development remains volatile and Meta’s hefty capital outlay is under scrutiny for ROI as investors watch how the investments translate into realized value.