BI Revealed That Scale AI Exposed Sensitive Data About Big Tech Clients

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In today’s big story, a report by BI revealed that Scale AI exposed sensitive data about clients like Meta and xAI in public documents. The company has since said it’s launching an investigation.

What’s on deck

Markets: Why a billionaire investor is predicting a “little bull market” for stocks.

Tech: Amazon’s grocery chief didn’t mince words when it came to the unit’s internal bureaucracy.

Business: Christmas morning might look a little different this year thanks to rising toy prices.

But first, confidential? Not entirely.

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The big story

Scale AI’s lockdown

All you needed was the right URL. With that, anyone could access a number of Scale AI’s public Google Docs, some of which were marked “confidential.” A few clicks later, private information about the company and thousands of its contractors would have been at your fingertips.

Business Insider revealed this in our reporting. We alerted Scale AI about the security hole two weeks ago, and the company has since launched an investigation and locked down thousands of files that were previously accessible.

Some of those files tracked AI training projects for high-profile customers like Google, xAI, and Meta.

BI saw sensitive details about how Google used ChatGPT to improve its own struggling chatbot, then called Bard.

For Elon Musk’s xAI, public documents showed details of “Project Xylophone,” an initiative to improve its chatbot’s conversations on a wide range of topics, from the zombie apocalypse to life on Mars.

Meta, which is making a $14 billion investment in Scale AI, had confidential training documents exposed with links to audio files with examples of “good” and “bad” speech prompts.

Then there’s the contractors. Their names, private email addresses, and details about their work performance were all accessible. BI saw a spreadsheet titled “Good and Bad Folks” that categorized dozens of workers as either “high quality” or suspected of “cheating.”

There’s no indication that Scale AI had suffered a data breach because of this.

Scale AI has routinely used public Google Docs to track work for high-profile customers, as it’s an efficient way to share information with its more than 240,000 contractors. But while “efficiency” has long been the watchword in Big Tech, it shouldn’t come at the expense of “security.” Cyberdefense experts told BI that Scale AI’s practice could have left it vulnerable.

After Scale AI’s lockdown following our report, one contractor told BI that many teams’ work had ground to a halt due to the new restrictions.

“We are basically chilling out here,” the contractor said.

For more on Scale AI, sign up to get the next edition of my colleague Alistair Barr’s Tech Memo newsletter in your inbox tomorrow.

3 things in markets

1. The tech trade still has room to run. With the tech-heavy Nasdaq hovering near all-time highs, UBS recommends that investors stick with the sector. The bank said AI adoption is still in its early stages and is set to continue growing.

2. Jerome Powell is having doubts about the data. The Fed Chair on Tuesday voiced concerns about the quality of economic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — a huge concern since the Fed relies on that data to adjust policy. DOGE cuts may be to blame.

3. Investing advice from a billionaire. Bill Gross is bearish on bonds and bullish on stocks, citing AI as a likely growth factor. He shared his take on how investors should position themselves in an unpredictable market.

3 things in tech

1. Amazon’s Whole Foods chief slams the unit’s internal bureaucracy. In an internal meeting, Jason Buechel recently blamed the unit’s red tape for slowing down the business, according to a recording of the meeting exclusively obtained by BI. Amazon is unifying its grocery teams under its “One Grocery” initiative and Buechel identified “overlapping work” as a top priority.

2. Are you coming to my party? RSVP on Partiful. No, wait, it’s on Luma. It’s on Apple Invites. I mean Shine Parties. Young people are sending invitations for everything from big birthday bashes to move-outs and crash-outs. The age of invitation overload is making it harder to understand what we’re attending and what’s expected of us.

3. Apple keeps betting on big-budget movies, but the math doesn’t add up. The Brad Pitt-led racing movie “F1” is Apple’s newest theatrical release. But the company’s movie-making arm seems like a big money pit, and it’s not clear what Apple’s getting out of it, BI’s Peter Kafka writes.

3 things in business

1. Sorry, kids. No more cheap toys. Toy prices increased by 2.2% between April and May, according to federal statistics. That’s thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, since most toys are made in China. As a parent, BI’s Katie Notopoulos has mixed feelings.

2. The billionaires who bet big on the NYC mayoral primary — and lost. Zohran Mamdani is projected to win the Democratic nomination for mayor, edging out frontrunner Andrew Cuomo. See the billionaires who together spent millions on anti-Mamdani messaging, including Michael Bloomberg, Bill Ackman, and Ken Griffin.

3. Amazon is coming for Walmart’s rural dominance. Amazon recently announced it’s adding 4,000 “smaller” communities to its same-day and next-day delivery service. The move takes direct aim at Walmart, which can deliver from its more than 4,600 stores that are located within 10 miles of 90% of the US population.

In other news

What’s happening today

Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes final GDP data for Q1.

Nike and Walgreens Boots Alliance report earnings.

Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave). Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Meghan Morris, bureau chief, in Singapore. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London.