Scale AI has appointed Francis deSouza, Google Cloud’s chief operating officer, as its new CEO, replacing interim chief executive Jason Droege, who had led the company since founder Alexandr Wang departed in 2025 to join Meta after its $14.3 billion investment in the startup. Meta AI head Alexandr Wang congratulated deSouza on joining ScaleAI, writing on X, “Welcome @fdesouza to @scale_AI as CEO! I started Scale a decade ago at 19, and it has grown to be the backbone of the AI world, powering frontier labs, Fortune 500 companies, and the US Government. Francis is an exceptional leader and the right steward. After spending a lot of time together, I have no doubts he’ll take Scale to greater heights. Thank you @jdroege for your leadership as interim CEO.” DeSouza, who also served as president of Google Cloud’s security products business, said he was drawn to Scale because enterprises need help turning AI hype into measurable business results. He shared on X, “Big News: I’m joining @scale_AI as CEO, starting August 10. Scale sits at a rare intersection, working with the top AI labs to push the frontier while helping enterprises and governments actually deploy AI they can verify and trust.” According to a report by Axios, this new hire signals Scale’s ambition to position itself as an enterprise AI company rather than a data