Francis deSouza is the chief executive officer of Scale AI, appointed in 2026 following founder Alexandr Wang's departure to lead AI efforts at Meta. Before joining Scale AI, deSouza served as chief operating officer of Google Cloud, and earlier was president and CEO of genomics company Illumina, where he led the company through a significant period of growth in DNA sequencing technology.
deSouza took over Scale AI at a pivotal moment for the company, following Meta's approximately $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake, tasked with steering Scale's data infrastructure and evaluation business as an increasingly important but structurally complex player in the AI ecosystem given Meta's substantial ownership position.