Scale AI, the California-based data-labelling and AI-model adaptation firm, announced on 26 October 2026 that it is opening its UAE office at the Dubai AI Campus inside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The decision was unveiled at a signing ceremony during the Dubai AI Festival; “making our home at DIFC is a long-term commitment,” said Trevor Thompson, the company’s global managing director.
Where the office will sit
Scale AI will be based at the Dubai AI Campus inside DIFC. The cluster is part of the Dubai Universal Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence, the city’s framework for developing an AI sector, coordinated by the UAE Minister of State for AI office and the financial centre. For resident firms this means a sector regulator (the Dubai Financial Services Authority), shared R&D spaces and access to an AI and Web3 start-up community.
On the same day — 26 October — Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed approved new 2030 targets for the Dubai AI Campus: the cluster is to attract more than 1,000 companies and create more than 5,000 jobs. The arrival of an anchor player of Scale AI’s size fits that trajectory.
What Scale AI does
Founded in 2016, the firm specialises in preparing data for AI training: labelling, quality evaluation, model safety and adaptation for corporate and government use cases. According to The National, Scale AI is valued at roughly USD 29 billion and employs more than 1,000 people. Its client list includes Meta, Nvidia, Cohere, OpenAI, Microsoft, Cisco, Instacart, Time and the US Air Force and US Army.
Leadership shifted during 2026. Founder Alexandr Wang left for Meta in June to become its chief AI officer; Jason Droege took over as interim CEO. In July Scale AI said that Francis deSouza, a former Google Cloud COO, would be the permanent successor. For the UAE office, Trevor Thompson remains the global point of contact.
Why this matters for UAE business
For technology and data-first companies, DIFC gains another argument as a jurisdiction. The financial centre has long positioned itself as an AI and Web3 hub (how to compare UAE free zones, including DIFC and ADGM), but the arrival of global anchors such as Scale AI changes the scale: a reference customer helps assemble a surrounding pool of narrow specialists, vendors and investors. Scale AI’s public UAE job listings already include product manager and engineering manager roles supporting government clients.
For operating businesses, there is a second benefit: faster access to the tooling local teams use — from data-labelling and evaluation systems to services that adapt large language models to corporate processes and local regulation (a guide to business communication tools in the UAE). Scale AI already serves the global clients listed above — the same tooling is now set to be closer to the domestic market.
Regional context
The Dubai office is the next step of a Gulf expansion. In spring 2025 Scale AI said it would open a Riyadh office by the end of that year and signalled plans for a UAE presence without a firm timeline. The 26 October 2026 announcement closes that item: Scale AI is now on the ground in two key Gulf capitals — Riyadh and Dubai.
