The Pentagon awarded a $500 million contract to Meta Platforms Inc.-backed Scale AI to help sift through data and assist in decision-making, the latest step in the US military’s effort to rely more on artificial intelligence. The agreement is a five-fold increase of a $100 million deal the company received in September 2025. The Pentagon was “pushing the limits” on the original contract, Dan Tadross, who leads Scale AI’s public sector business, said in an interview.

“I think this contract is just generally proof that the department is eager to adopt this technology,” Tadross said.

San Francisco-based Scale is also working on the Defense Innovation Unit’s Thunderforge program, an effort to incorporate AI into military planning and operations and on President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome homeland defense architecture. Meta took a 49% stake in the company last year. The contract with the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, is among the bigger deals signed by the Pentagon with AI companies. It’s all part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan — announced in a January strategy memo — to adopt more AI tools and eliminate what he called bureaucratic barriers to their use.

Full report : Scale AI wins a $500 million DOD contract via the US Chief Digital and AI Office to help sift through data and assist with decisions, after its $100 million DOD deal in 2025.

For more see the OODA Company Profile on Scale AI.