Influencers The Alexandr Wang Effect

Elite salespeople tend to run with their own set of influences and mentors that provide future insights.  The complete list of influencers in AI and EQ would easily fill this book or more, but for now, we will highlight a few notables. In an incredibly fast-moving market driven by AI, it is worth looking at both human and artificial influences, from Michael Jackson to Batman and Robin.

In mid-2025, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a data-labeling company, for a 49% stake and hired Alexandr Wang as Chief AI Officer. Wang attended MIT for a brief period before dropping out to co-found Scale AI in 2016. By 2021, the company had received several defense contracts. It was tapped by the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to test and evaluate the safety and reliability of large language models for military planning and decision-making. The company's valuation reached $7.3 billion, and by January 2025, Wang was among a group of tech-based founders and chief executive officers at Donald Trump's second inauguration.

He also wrote a letter directly to President Trump, declaring that "America must win the AI war."  In his new role at Meta, Alexandr will run its Superintelligence Lab. As a bit of trivia, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang was roommates with his friend, Sam Altman.