Scale & Strategy
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This is Scale & Strategy – the newsletter that maintains what psychiatrists have called “an unhealthy fixation” on business, so you can become a smarter operator!
Here’s what we got for you today:
- Meta Just Laid Out Its AI Endgame
- Salt Batteries Are Finally Arriving. And They Could Reshape Energy Storage.
Meta Just Laid Out Its AI Endgame
Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word manifesto this week outlining how Meta plans to approach AI development, regulation, infrastructure, and distribution over the coming years. The essay reads less like a product announcement and more like a declaration of principles for the next phase of the AI race.
At the center of Zuckerberg's argument is a simple belief: AI should be distributed as widely as possible, and individuals should have more control over it than governments, corporations, or institutions.
That philosophy is driving several major changes.
First, Meta is returning to open-weight releases. The company will launch Muse Glimmer immediately and plans to release an open-weight version of its frontier model, Muse Spark 1.2, in the coming weeks. Users and developers will be able to download and modify these models themselves, doubling down on Meta's long-standing belief that open AI ecosystems create better outcomes than closed ones.
Zuckerberg also came out strongly in favor of model distillation, the increasingly controversial practice of learning from another model's outputs to train a competing system. While OpenAI and Anthropic have argued that distillation amounts to theft, Zuckerberg framed it as a natural extension of learning from publicly observable information.
The essay also reveals a significant shift in how Meta wants to handle AI governance.
Rather than relying solely on internal safety teams, Zuckerberg said Meta's board of directors will have direct authority over whether future models meet approved safety standards before release. He also called for similar governance structures across the industry, arguing that no single executive should have unilateral control over how powerful AI systems are deployed.
On regulation, Zuckerberg pushed back against proposals requiring lengthy government reviews before releasing new models. Instead, he proposed closer collaboration between frontier labs and regulators throughout the development process, including sharing intermediate training checkpoints with government agencies before training is complete.
Infrastructure was another major theme.
Meta expects to spend roughly $145 billion this year on AI infrastructure and as much as $600 billion by 2028. Zuckerberg argued that one of America's biggest disadvantages in the race against China is how difficult it has become to build large-scale projects domestically.
To help address growing opposition to data centers, Meta is launching a $1 billion "Future Is For Everyone Fund" that will invest directly into communities hosting its infrastructure. The move comes as resistance to data-center construction grows across the U.S., with some states already moving to restrict new development.
The broader message running through the essay is that Meta sees itself pursuing a fundamentally different vision than OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier labs.
Where many competitors focus on building AI primarily for enterprises, governments, and institutions, Zuckerberg argues that AI should be optimized for individuals. He reiterated Meta's vision of "personal superintelligence" and called for private AI agents that users control directly, including systems where even Meta itself cannot access user data.
The timing is notable.
Meta is still trying to close the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic on frontier model performance. Despite spending aggressively on talent, compute, and infrastructure, the company remains behind the leaders in many advanced model benchmarks. This manifesto appears designed not only to explain Meta's strategy, but also to differentiate it philosophically from the rest of the industry.
Whether that vision wins remains an open question. But Zuckerberg is clearly betting that the future of AI won't be determined solely by who builds the smartest model. It will also be determined by who decides how that intelligence gets distributed.
Why it matters: Meta is making a very different bet from most frontier labs. While competitors focus on controlling increasingly powerful systems, Zuckerberg is arguing for broader distribution, open-weight models, model distillation, and user-controlled AI. If frontier model performance continues to converge, the biggest battle in AI may shift from intelligence itself to who controls access to it.
Improve your Google Ads performance—work 1:1 with an ex-Googler with 18 years of proven results
Most Google Ads agencies pass accounts to junior staff. Lighthouse Growth Consulting doesn’t.
Every campaign is built and managed directly by ex-Googler and founder Mike Kowieski, who helped build the very ad products businesses rely on today and has overseen more than $1B in ad spend.
With Lighthouse, it’s 1:1. There are no handoffs, no layers of account managers, and no wasted budget: just senior-level strategy and hands-on execution from day one.
Businesses partner with Lighthouse to:
- Eliminate wasted budget on unprofitable clicks.
- Stabilize unpredictable performance.
- Build campaigns that scale profitably over the long term.
Because the founder runs every account personally, Lighthouse only takes on a limited number of new clients each quarter.
Salt Batteries Are Finally Arriving. And They Could Reshape Energy Storage.
For decades, researchers have chased a simple idea: replace the expensive, geopolitically sensitive materials inside modern batteries with one of the most abundant resources on Earth.
Now it's finally happening.
A new generation of sodium-ion batteries, built using materials derived from ordinary salt, is beginning to reach commercial scale in the U.S. While lithium-ion batteries still dominate the market, sodium-based alternatives are rapidly emerging as a serious contender for grid storage, data centers, and other large-scale energy applications.
The appeal is obvious.
Unlike lithium-ion batteries, sodium batteries don't rely on scarce minerals concentrated in a handful of countries. Sodium is cheap, abundant, and widely available. That means countries can build energy-storage infrastructure without depending on fragile supply chains or Chinese-controlled mineral processing.
Several U.S. startups are now racing to bring the technology to market.
Peak Energy, founded by former Tesla engineers, is building sodium-ion battery systems designed specifically for the electric grid. The company recently announced plans for a Sacramento gigafactory capable of producing 4 gigawatt-hours of battery packs annually, a fortyfold increase from its current pilot facility.
The company has already secured more than $1.1 billion in customer agreements from energy-storage developers and utilities.
The biggest advantage isn't necessarily cost.
It's safety.
Lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to thermal runaway, the chain reaction that can cause battery fires in EVs, airplanes, and grid-scale storage systems. While rare, these incidents require expensive cooling systems and safety infrastructure.
Sodium-ion batteries significantly reduce that risk.
Peak Energy says its systems can operate using passive air cooling rather than complex liquid-cooling systems. That reduces maintenance costs, simplifies deployment, and makes large-scale battery installations easier to manage.
For data centers, the timing couldn't be better.
As AI drives a massive buildout of computing infrastructure, operators need reliable backup power and energy storage. Today that role is often filled by diesel generators and natural-gas peaker plants. Sodium batteries could eventually provide a cleaner alternative.
Another startup, Inlyte Energy, is pursuing a different sodium-based chemistry using iron powder, steel, aluminum oxide, and table salt. The company claims its battery design is effectively nonflammable and can be packed more densely than many competing storage systems.
Its first commercial deployment is scheduled for delivery this month.
The technology is also attracting major industrial players.
General Motors is developing its own sodium-based battery designs and has invested in Peak Energy. The automaker sees sodium as a complementary technology that can be optimized for stationary storage applications where energy density matters less than cost, durability, and safety.
That distinction is important.
Sodium batteries are unlikely to replace lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles anytime soon. Lithium still stores more energy per pound, making it the better choice when weight matters.
But for stationary storage, where batteries sit in one place for years, the equation changes dramatically.
That's why many analysts believe sodium could become one of the most important battery technologies of the next decade.
Morgan Stanley recently projected that more than one-third of all batteries produced globally could use sodium chemistry within ten years.
The race, however, isn't just technological.
It's geopolitical.
China already dominates global battery manufacturing and is moving aggressively into sodium-ion production through giants like BYD and CATL. While much of the innovation behind battery technology originated in the West, China has repeatedly won the scaling battle.
The concern among U.S. companies is that history could repeat itself.
The challenge is no longer proving sodium batteries work. The challenge is manufacturing enough of them before China captures another critical energy market.
Why it matters: Sodium-ion batteries may be the most important energy technology most people aren't paying attention to. They offer a path toward cheaper, safer energy storage without relying on scarce minerals or Chinese supply chains. If they scale successfully, they could accelerate renewable energy adoption, reduce dependence on fossil-fuel backup power, and become one of the biggest battery markets of the next decade.
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