Scale AI taps former Google Cloud executive as CEO

Scale AI said on Thursday it had named former Google Cloud executive Francis DeSouza as chief executive officer, effective August 10, as the AI company looks to expand its data and applications businesses.

DeSouza will succeed Jason Droege, who has ‌served as ⁠interim CEO since ⁠June last year. Droege will work with deSouza in the coming months to support the transition, Scale said.

Founded by Alexandr Wang, Scale provides data that powers frontier AI models and develops AI applications for businesses and governments. Last year, Wang joined Meta Platforms as ⁠its chief AI ‌officer.


DeSouza has more than 30 years of experience in enterprise technology ⁠and most recently served as chief operating officer and president of security products at Google Cloud.

Before joining Google Cloud, DeSouza was president and CEO of Illumina, a genomic data and sequencing company.

Scale said that under DeSouza, Illumina's revenue grew to more than $4.5 billion and the company ‌expanded into more than 150 countries.

Earlier in his career, he was president of products ​and services at ​cybersecurity company ⁠Symantec. He also founded two companies that were later acquired by Microsoft and Symantec.

DeSouza holds bachelor's and master's ​degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Scale said it recently added BP and Mayo Clinic as enterprise customers and expanded its work with U.S. and international governments.