{"id":35356,"date":"2025-10-15T20:21:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/scale-ai-cuts-more-contractors-as-it-shifts-toward-more-specialized-ai-training\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T20:21:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:21:45","slug":"scale-ai-cuts-more-contractors-as-it-shifts-toward-more-specialized-ai-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/scale-ai-cuts-more-contractors-as-it-shifts-toward-more-specialized-ai-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Scale AI cuts more contractors as it shifts toward more specialized AI training"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/68bf3c6c32af4d666ef77bdd?format=jpeg\" alt=\"Scale AI interim CEO Jason Droege\"\/><figcaption>Scale AI interim CEO Jason Droege.<\/p>\n<p>Randy Risling\/Toronto Star via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Scale AI just cut an entire team of contractors focused on &#039;generalist&#039; AI work in Dallas.<\/li>\n<li>The recently laid-off team members were then invited to work on Scale AI&#039;s gig work platform.<\/li>\n<li>The startup attributed the cuts to an industry shift toward more expert-driven data labeling work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Scale AI shuttered a team of contractors in its Dallas office on Monday, as it shifts towards more technical, expert-level training, the startup confirmed to Business Insider. The cuts mark the latest shake-up since Meta took a stake in Scale AI in a $14.3 billion deal. <\/p>\n<p>The team, known internally as the NPO or New Projects Organization, had over a dozen members who focused on generalist tasks, such as improving the writing ability of artificial intelligence chatbots. That kind of work is in less demand in the fast-moving AI training industry as chatbots improve and require input from humans with skills in more niche fields, like medicine, robotics, and finance. <\/p>\n<p>Based in San Francisco, Scale AI helps tech companies improve their latest chatbots by doing things like rewriting their responses. It&#039;s part of a fast-moving AI training industry.<\/p>\n<p>Scale AI offered the workers four weeks of severance pay and healthcare coverage through October, according to an email from HireArt, a staffing agency used extensively by Scale AI. The recently laid-off workers were also invited to join Scale&#039;s gig-work platform, Outlier, where thousands of freelancers help train AI models. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;As you navigate this transition, we want to ensure you are aware of alternative opportunities,&quot; the email read.<\/p>\n<p>Scale AI spokesperson Natalia Montalvo confirmed the cuts to Business Insider.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Scale wound down a small experimental onsite program in Dallas staffed by a contract workforce,&quot; Montalvo said. &quot;This reflects an industry shift toward higher skill, expert data work. It only affects a small fraction of our overall workforce and has no impact on customer delivery.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The Scale AI spokesperson added that Scale AI continues to expand expert-level programs and that the recent shifts have not impacted Scale AI&#039;s broader group of contractors that continue to work in Dallas. <\/p>\n<p>xAI has also made similar moves to focus on specialized AI training, recently downsizing its team of generalist AI tutors in September. <\/p>\n<p>The Meta deal, which was announced in June, caused some of Scale AI&#039;s longtime customers, like Google and OpenAI, to abruptly halt their work. A few weeks later, Scale AI laid off 14% of its workforce \u2014 200 employees and 500 contractors \u2014 citing overhiring and unspecified market forces in an internal email about the division.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Scale AI terminated twelve members of its Red Team, a key unit tasked with probing artificial intelligence models for harm. Scale AI attributed the cuts to performance issues, but two former Red Teamers disputed this, saying their team&#039;s work had been drying up since the Meta deal.<\/p>\n<p><em>Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <\/em><em>crollet@insider.co<\/em>m<em> or on Signal and WhatsApp at <\/em><em>628-282-2811<\/em>.<em> Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>here&#039;s our guide to sharing information securely<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scale AI interim CEO Jason Droege. Randy Risling\/Toronto Star via Getty Images Scale AI just cut an entire team of contractors focused on &#039;generalist&#039; AI work in Dallas. The recently laid-off team members were then invited to work on Scale AI&#039;s gig work platform. The startup attributed the cuts to an industry shift toward more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}