Google is planning to end its business relationship with Scale AI after its rival, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), acquired a 49% stake in the AI data-labeling startup.

Mark Zuckerberg's biggest bet on Meta AI will ride on the back of a fellow dropout who has dazzled Silicon Valley over the last decade.

Meta Platforms Inc. keeps writing bigger checks in pursuit of its artificial intelligence strategy, and traders keep cheering it on, encouraged that the expensive bets will keep paying off.Most Read from BloombergShuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its FutureDo World’s Fairs Still Matter?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that his company will be investing heavily in artificial intelligence in 2025. And on Thursday, he put his money where his mouth is, with the parent company of Facebook and Instagram investing $14.

Data is the battleground, and Scale’s pipelines may just be the most valuable trenches.” This comment in a recent industry report captures the thinking behind Meta’s splashy $15 billion buyout of Scale AI a development that has stunned Silicon Valley and beyond.

Meta invests $14.3B in Scale AI to fuel a new superintelligence lab—gaining infrastructure and leadership, but raising doubts about Scale’s future.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is bringing in Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to help the social media company better execute on its AI ambitions.

As part of the deal, Scale AI’s CEO will take a top position inside Meta, leading a new “superintelligence” lab, according to the report.

It’s easily the most expensive hire of all time, dwarfing the billions that Google spent to rehire Noam Shazeer and his core team from Character.AI (a deal Zuckerberg passed on). “Opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost,” Wang wrote in his note to employees this week. “In this instance, that cost is my departure.”