Meta Cuts 600 AI Jobs in Superintelligence Labs Amid Restructuring

Meta cuts 600 AI jobs amid ongoing reorganization | TechCrunch

Meta's chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday that the company will cut about 600 jobs from its superintelligence lab, according to a report from Axios. Meta declined to comment, but told TechCrunch that Axios's reporting is accurate. As Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other companies race to build the most powerful AI systems, Meta had a busy summer on the hiring front. The company poached more than 50 researchers from its competitors by offering multi-million dollar pay packages, though OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that "none of [OpenAI's] best people" took the offers. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the memo to staff. This line of thinking tracks with Meta's recent "year of efficiency" -- a more sanitized way to describe the company's mass layoffs. At the time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff that "leaner is better." Now, it seems that Meta isn't lowering its overall headcount by much, but rather, reorganizing its efforts. The company claims that most of these people impacted today should be able to find another job within Meta.

Meta is reportedly downsizing its legacy AI research team

Meta is planning to axe around 600 roles within its legacy AI research division, according to a report from Axios. The layoffs will reportedly impact Meta's Fundamental AI Research unit, also known as FAIR, while the company continues to hire workers for its newly formed superintelligence team, TBD Lab. Meta kicked off an AI hiring spree after investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI and hiring CEO Alexandr Wang in June. It paused hiring just months later and announced a restructuring that will focus on AI-related products and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Meta's AI research team has taken a backseat, with FAIR leader Joelle Pineau leaving earlier this year. In August, Meta AI's head Wang said that Meta "will aim to integrate and scale many of the research ideas and projects from FAIR into the larger model runs conducted by TBD Lab." Now, Meta is reducing roles inside FAIR as it makes high-profile hires for TBD Lab. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang writes in a memo seen by Axios. The layoffs will also affect roles within its AI product and infrastructure teams, though Meta will allow impacted employees to apply for other roles within the company, Axios reports. The Verge reached out to Meta with a request for comment.

Meta Lays Off 600 in AI Division After Offering $300M Packages to Top Talent

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor / Bloomberg via Getty Images) Meta has laid off 600 employees from its flashy AI division, known as Superintelligence Labs, potentially marking the start of a major restructuring under new leadership. CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent most of this year building up the team, making headlines for hefty pay packages -- some reportedly worth up to $300 million -- that lured AI leaders from competitors like OpenAI and Apple. That includes Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, who sold a 49% stake in his company to Meta in June for $14.3 billion before joining Meta as its chief AI officer. Wang notified staff of the layoffs in a Wednesday memo, CNBC reports. The division has around 3,000 employees, so the cuts amount to 20%. It became overstaffed after a recent hiring spree, according to The New York Times. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the memo, the Times reports. Meta insists that the layoffs are not a retreat from its AI efforts, but rather a way to accelerate them. Multiple researchers confirmed on social media that they lost their jobs. "I was impacted by Meta layoffs today," writes Mimansa Jaiswal, a research scientist focused on LLM post-training. "I've focused on understanding why/where models fail & how to make them better. I'm looking for opportunities; please reach out!" Meta reportedly plans to try to reassign affected employees to other positions. In January, Meta cut 5% of its workforce, or an estimated 3,600 jobs. Zuckerberg said it was performance-based, and that he had "decided to raise the bar," and recruit top talent. However, multiple affected employees reported receiving top marks on their performance reviews. Superintelligence Labs' mission is to create technology that is smarter than humans, but it has yet to release a game-changing product. In late September, the team debuted Vibes, an AI-generated video feed for social media. OpenAI released its own version the same week, and both faced backlash for having little utility. Arguably, Meta's biggest AI success this year is its VR headset and accompanying neural band. They received rave reviews from PCMag's smart glasses expert, Will Greenwald.

Meta to cut around 600 roles in Superintelligence Labs AI unit

Oct 22 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O), opens new tab is cutting around 600 positions out of the several thousand roles in its Superintelligence Labs, the Facebook owner said on Wednesday as it looks to make its artificial intelligence unit more flexible and responsive. The job cuts will affect Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, as well as teams focused on product-related AI and AI infrastructure, the company said. The newly formed TBD Lab, which comprises "a few dozen" researchers and engineers developing Meta's next-generation foundation models, will not be affected. Axios first reported the job cuts announcement, citing a company memo. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said fewer team members would streamline decision-making and increase the responsibility, scope and impact of each role. The company said it was encouraging affected employees to apply for other jobs within Meta. Meta on Tuesday struck a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital (OWL.N), opens new tab, the company's largest-ever private capital agreement, to fund its biggest data center project. Some analysts said the deal will allow Meta to achieve its massive AI ambitions by shifting much of the upfront cost and risk to external capital, while retaining a smaller ownership share in the project. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June after senior staff departures and a poor reception for its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally led an aggressive hiring spree for the unit to revitalize Meta's AI efforts. Superintelligence Labs includes Meta's foundations, product and FAIR teams as well as TBD Lab that is focused on developing the company's next generation of AI models. The company began investing in AI in 2013 by launching FAIR unit and recruiting Yann LeCun, its chief AI scientist, to lead the effort and building a global research network focused on deep learning. Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Arun Koyyur Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Meta replacing humans with AI for FTC-mandated privacy reviews

Priscilla Chan, left, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Lauren Sanchez are among guests attending Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th U.S. president in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2025. Meta said Thursday that it's laying off an undisclosed number of employees in its risk organization amid a company shift to use artificial intelligence to automate its compliance review process. Michel Protti, Meta's chief privacy and compliance officer for product, disclosed the layoffs on Wednesday to members of the company's risk organization, according to a report by Business Insider. Meta's risk organization is tasked with assessing and documenting various product and feature risks and ensure that the company is complying with regulators worldwide. The organization was established after the company formerly known as Facebook was slapped with a $5 billion fine by the Federal Trade Commission as part of a settlement that also required that the social media giant restructure its approach to privacy. The job reductions come amid broader organizational restructurings at Meta, including its decision on Wednesday to lay off about 600 employees who work in the company's Superintelligence Labs AI unit. The cuts, however, did not impact Meta's top-tier TBD Labs division within the AI unit. "Through our product risk and compliance team, we've built one of the most sophisticated compliance programs in the industry to help us evaluate our products and features," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "We routinely make organizational changes and are restructuring our team to reflect the maturity of our program and innovate faster while maintaining high compliance standards." Meta promoted Protti to lead the company's privacy program in 2019 following the settlement with the FTC related to the company's Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal. The social media company has spent the past year developing AI technology to streamline risk management. The Meta spokesperson said that the company's revamped risk management system relies on more basic automation rather than more bleeding-edge AI technologies that can generate compelling text based on written prompts. Meta Vice President of Policy Rob Sherman said in a June LinkedIn post that the company "built a tool that helps teams automatically identify when legal and policy requirements apply to specific products." "We're not using AI to make decisions on risk," Sherman wrote. "Instead, the rules are applied using automation, reducing time experts need to spend on the ratified decisions, while increasing reliability because there's less room for human error."

Meta cutting 600 AI jobs even as it continues to hire more for its superintelligence lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 600 artificial intelligence jobs even as it continues to hire more workers for its superintelligence lab, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Axios first reported the cuts, which will affect Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure units. Its newer TBD Lab unit won't be affected. Citing a memo sent to workers by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, Axios said the company is encouraging employees affected to apply for other jobs at Meta, with most expected to find other roles. The Menlo Park, California-based company is also still recruiting and hiring for TBD Lab, which is developing Meta's latest large language models. Large language models are the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini -- and Meta's Llama. Meta has taken a different approach to AI than many of its rivals, releasing its flagship Llama system for free as an open-source product that enables people to use and modify some of its key components. Meta says more than a billion people use its AI products each month, but it's also widely seen as lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Google in encouraging consumer use of large language models, also known as LLMs.

Meta openly links fresh layoffs to AI-driven automation

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. In a nutshell: Remember when companies refused to admit that layoffs were the result of their AI adoption? Firms are no longer shy in admitting that technology has replaced human workers. Meta, for example, is laying off a number of people as a result of artificial intelligence automating their jobs - just days after the firm laid off 600 employees from its sprawling AI business. Michel Protti, Meta's chief privacy and compliance officer for product, has informed members of Meta's Risk Organization that they are moving away from manual reviews to more automated processes, reports Business Insider. Protti said that as a result of the increased automation, Meta does not need as many roles in the division as it once did. The executive never revealed exactly how many people will be laid off. Meta's Risk Org is responsible for identifying, assessing, mitigating, and monitoring risks associated with Meta's products, services, policies, and global operations. The group overlaps with Meta's enforcement and policy teams in ensuring the platforms act in line with regulatory obligations and global-region-specific standards. Protti added that moving from manual reviews to automated processes has resulted in more accurate and reliable compliance outcomes across Meta. There was the usual line about the technology freeing staff from mundane tasks to focus on more complex and high-impact challenges - those who haven't been let go, obviously. "Through our product risk and compliance team, we've built one of the most sophisticated compliance programs in the industry to help us evaluate our products and features," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. "We routinely make organizational changes and are restructuring our team to reflect the maturity of our program and innovate faster while maintaining high compliance standards." Somewhat ironically, the move comes just after Meta let go of around 600 employees from its AI division. Workers in the company's legacy Fundamental AI Research unit (FAIR) and its AI product and infrastructure division will be affected by the layoffs, while hiring for its superintelligence team will continue. The list of companies that have let go of workers and blamed AI for the decision is a long and depressing one. But some critics say the technology is being made a scapegoat by firms who simply want to get rid of staff. By blaming AI, they can make the layoffs while appearing more cutting-edge, tech-savvy, and efficient in the eyes of potential investors.

Meta Layoffs Included Employees Who Monitored Risks to User Privacy

In a message to employees on Wednesday, Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief artificial intelligence officer, said the company would be laying off 600 people in its A.I. division. The cuts, he said, would help Meta build new products faster. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision," Mr. Wang wrote in an internal memo viewed by The New York Times. But buried amid the A.I. division layoffs were a different set of cuts. The company laid off more than 100 people in its risk review organization, according to three people familiar with the move and internal memos viewed by The Times. That group is largely staffed by employees responsible for making sure Meta's products abide by an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission as well as privacy rules set by regulatory bodies around the world, the people said. In a note sent to employees on Wednesday, Michel Protti, Meta's chief privacy officer, said the company would be shrinking the risk team and replacing most of its manual reviews with an automated systems. "By moving from bespoke, manual reviews to a more consistent and automated process, we've been able to deliver more accurate and reliable compliance outcomes across Meta," Mr. Protti said in the memo. "We remain committed to delivering innovative products while meeting our regulatory obligations." Mr. Protti did not specify how many roles were being cut. But insiders described the cuts as a "gutting" of the workers in the department who review projects at Meta for privacy and integrity risks, according to two employees familiar with them. Meta is laying off many of the workers on the risk review team in the London office and probably more than 100 people in the risk organization across the entire company. "We routinely make organizational changes and are restructuring our team to reflect the maturity of our program and innovate faster while maintaining high compliance standards," a Meta spokesman said in a statement. Some details of the cuts were earlier reported by Business Insider. The moves come amid a broader overhaul of Meta's organizational structure. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, has spent the past three years shaking up his company as it races to compete with new rivals like OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT chatbot. But Meta executives have become frustrated with the pace of product development, according to three people who spoke to The Times. One division holding things up -- by design -- was the company's risk organization. In 2019, the F.T.C. required Meta, then known as Facebook, to add new positions and practices to increase the transparency and accountability of how it treats user information. The agency also imposed a record $5 billion fine against Facebook for deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal data. The risk organization is responsible for overseeing and auditing all new products for potential threats to user privacy or changes that could violate the F.T.C. consent order the company agreed to in 2019. In 2020, Mr. Protti said the changes would bring about "a new level of accountability" and made sure that privacy was "everyone's responsibility at Facebook." Current and former employees in the risk organization said they were skeptical that replacing them with automated systems would be as effective, particularly around issues as sensitive as user privacy. Meta has spent the better part of the past decade being closely monitored by the F.T.C. and the Justice Department in the United States while facing intense scrutiny from regulatory bodies in Europe. Over the past year, Meta has slowly introduced automation into its risk auditing process by dividing potential issues into two parts: "Low risk" updates to new products were subject to automated review and later audited by humans. "High or novel risk" product issues were subject to the more intense process of immediate review by human auditors, according to two people familiar with the process. In August, Meta split its artificial intelligence division into four parts: FAIR, the company's research division; TBD Labs, which works on so-called superintelligence in A.I. systems; one division focused on building new products; and a fourth organization called infrastructure, such as data centers and A.I. hardware. Beyond Meta's risk organization, other cuts on Wednesday targeted veteran members of Meta's FAIR team and those who had worked on previous versions of Meta's open source A.I. models, called Llama. Among the employees who were laid off was Yuandong Tian, FAIR's research director, who had been at the company for eight years. But there was one division that was spared: TBD Labs, the organization largely made up of new, highly paid recruits working on the next generation of A.I. research. The department is led by Mr. Wang.

Meta Reportedly Laying Off Hundreds From Its AI Team

Meta has thrown billions of dollars at its artificial intelligence efforts. Somehow, that is apparently resulting in fewer people being employed. According to a report from Axios, about 600 people lost their jobs in Meta's "superintelligence" lab in an effort to create a less "bureaucratic" structure. The cuts will reportedly primarily hit Meta's FAIR AI research lab, which was the company's long-standing AI research unit, as well as the company's product-related AI teams and its AI infrastructure units. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said in a memo obtained by Axios. TBD Lab, which is tasked with "developing the next generation" of the company's large language models, was reportedly spared from the layoffs. The company also reportedly encouraged the employees affected by the layoffs to apply for other open positions within the company, with Wang writing, "This is a talented group of individuals, and we need their skills in other parts of the company." No word on whether there were efforts to move people into those roles before telling them to put their belongings in a box. The restructuring is just the latest example of Meta desperately playing catch-up in the AI race. Earlier this year, the company made waves with a hiring spree that saw it throw massive, multi-million dollar paydays at top talent in an effort to poach them from its rivals. It succeeded in luring them away, but hasn't necessarily figured out what comes next. Some recipients of those big signing bonuses threatened to leave within weeks of joining the company, according to the Financial Times, presumably over the lack of direction within the company. Others did dip, reportedly including people who had been with Meta for years. Zuck's company has seemingly yet to figure out what the shape of its AI operation should be. In addition to shelling out NBA max contract-sized payouts, the company poured $15 billion into Scale to get the company's talent and infrastructure. Since absorbing all that, it has failed to figure out what to do with it. It announced its Superintelligence initiative first to unify its efforts in the AI space, but broke it up into multiple divisions within a matter of weeks. In the meantime, it looks like it's the employees that Meta isn't spending millions of dollars on who will be penalized for organizational incompetence.

Meta cuts 600 workers in AI unit as it races to compete in tech boom

Meta is cutting roughly 600 positions in its artificial intelligence unit, in a reorganization of its workforce to better compete in the global AI race. Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, who was poached earlier this year from the start-up Scale AI, informed employees in a memo on Wednesday that the cuts were designed to reduce the size of the team, and quicken decision-making so that the AI team can have more impact. The move was first reported by Axios, and later confirmed by Meta spokesman Dave Arnold. The cuts will affect the company's product AI teams, AI infrastructure teams and the FAIR AI research department, which are part of an overarching "superintelligence" lab that has several thousand employees. The cuts will not affect Meta's newly created TBD lab, Meta confirmed. Meta is still expected to continue hiring for the lab. The reorganization is the latest in a string of changes that started this year when Meta created a new team dedicated to creating superintelligence, a term for machines hoped to one day outperform humans. Meta announced it bought a $14.3 billion investment in AI start-up Scale AI, and then brought in Wang, who founded the start-up, to lead the company's AI division. Since then, Meta has poached top talent artificial-intelligence researchers and engineers away from OpenAI, Apple and Google with eye-popping high salaries. Zuckerberg has said that he wants to build "the most elite and talent-dense team in the industry." And he has said in a podcast interview that there is "an absolute premium for the best and most talented people." But as the tech company has built up and recruited new talent for its AI lab, others have left the company. In April, Joelle Pineau, who worked at Meta for about eight years, announced that she was leaving her post leading the Meta AI research lab FAIR. During her tenure, Meta sought to reshape the once-independent artificial-research lab to be more aligned with the company's business and product priorities.

Meta lays off 600 employees within AI unit

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Meta will lay off roughly 600 employees within its artificial intelligence unit as the company looks to reduce layers and operate more nimbly, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday. The company announced the cuts in a memo from its Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who was hired in June as part of Meta's $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Workers across Meta's AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit and other product-related positions will be impacted. Axios was first to report the cuts. Meta has been aggressively investing in AI as it works to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI and Google, pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and recruitment. On Tuesday, the company announced a $27 billion deal with Blue Owl Capital to fund and develop its massive Hyperion data center in rural Louisiana. The data center is expected to be large enough to cover a "significant part of the footprint of Manhattan," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post in July.

Meta axes 600 AI roles to streamline teams, but superintelligence push continues

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What just happened? Being an AI expert might come with a healthy pay packet, but the position isn't immune to the tech industry's constant layoffs. About 600 employees within Meta's artificial-intelligence groups are being let go, a move the company says will streamline operations and remove layers in the decision-making process. Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, confirmed the layoffs and that affected employees have been notified. Workers in Meta's legacy Fundamental AI Research unit (FAIR) and its AI product and infrastructure division will be affected. It's important to note that the layoffs have not affected Meta's recently formed TBD Labs, an elite team inside Meta Superintelligence Labs focused on building its next-generation foundation models. Wang leads the division. He was hired after Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, where he was CEO. Also read: Over 800 public figures, including "AI godfathers" and Steve Wozniak, sign open letter to ban superintelligent AI "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in a memo to staff. The move is part of Meta's attempts to make its sprawling AI organization less bloated and more efficient. Alexandr Wang, center Meta has spared no expense when it comes to securing the best AI researchers in the business. Earlier this year, the company dangled nine-figure packages to poach elite researchers - often structured as huge equity/sign-on grants - part of its push to recruit for the Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) / TBD Labs. OpenAI boss Sam Altman said at the time that Meta offered $100 million signing bonuses to try and lure his employees. However, just weeks after announcing the formation of the superintelligence research team, Meta put a pause on AI hiring. It also reorganized the division, splitting it into four groups focused on AI research, infrastructure and hardware, AI products, and superintelligence. It was reported at that time that Meta wanted to downsize its AI business. One of the researchers laid off by Meta was Xianjun Yang, who has been looking for new employment on X. Noting that his work has been cited by John Schulman of the Thinking Machine Lab and Nicholas Carlini of Anthropic in their paper "Detecting Adversarial Fine-Tuning With Auditing Agents," Yang has already received positive responses from Apple, X, xAI, Salesforce, AMD, and other big tech firms.

Meta Plans to Cut 600 Jobs at A.I. Superintelligence Labs

Meta on Wednesday said that it plans to cut approximately 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence division, according to a memo sent to employees that was relayed to The New York Times, as the company seeks to keep pace with competitors in the furious contest over the technology. The layoffs will be in Meta's so-called Superintelligence Labs, which is the umbrella name for the company's A.I. efforts. The division has a few thousand employees, though the exact number of workers was unclear. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, has been on a hiring spree to stack his company with top A.I. researchers, including a new chief A.I. officer, Alexandr Wang, earlier this year. The cuts on Wednesday do not affect these newest hires, who have been empowered to develop "superintelligence," or artificial intelligence that exceeds the human brain. Instead, the job cuts are aimed at cleaning up the organizational bloat that resulted from three years of building up Meta's A.I. efforts too quickly, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The layoffs aim to help Meta develop A.I. products more quickly, they said. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Mr. Wang wrote in the memo circulated to employees. The cuts, which were earlier reported by Axios, come at an intensely competitive time for Meta, which has spent the past three years dealing with the rapid onset of A.I. After ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft began hiring furiously to build the next generation of A.I. chatbots and other products. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, struggled to keep up with the pack. After early success developing its open-source A.I. model, called Llama, its progress stagnated. The company went on a fresh hiring spree and made strategic errors, leading to product development issues over the past 18 months. After a rocky first half of this year, Mr. Zuckerberg moved to restart the A.I. efforts. In June, he invested $14.3 billion in ScaleAI, an artificial intelligence start-up that was co-founded by Mr. Wang. Mr. Zuckerberg then brought ScaleAI's top talent to Meta's Superintelligence Labs, including Mr. Wang. Mr. Zuckerberg has since also spent billions recruiting top researchers from other A.I. labs and companies, including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Meta has dangled pay packages to some that number well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In August, Mr. Zuckerberg split Meta Superintelligence into four groups. One is called FAIR, which is focused on A.I. research; a second is working on superintelligence; another on products; and a fourth on infrastructure, such as data centers and other A.I. hardware. The planned cuts will affect employees at FAIR and in the product division, according to Mr. Wang's memo. Employees who are laid off were set to receive emails by 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, and the company plans to try to find other positions internally for those affected. No cuts will be made to TBD, the team building superintelligence and managing Meta's large language models, which drive chatbots and other A.I. products, the people with knowledge of the situation said. The company is still hiring A.I. researchers in the TBD unit, which is managed by Mr. Wang, the people said. Meta executives have emphasized that the cuts do not mean they are retrenching on A.I. efforts, and that superintelligence remains among Mr. Zuckerberg's top priorities for the company.

Meta cuts 600 jobs in its AI division - but it says there is no need to worry

Meta is cutting around 600 roles in its artificial intelligence division, a report from Axios has claimed. It's believed Meta's legacy AI research group and some product and infrastructure divisions may be affected, but employees in the new superintelligence labs should remain unaffected. The company, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has already previously committed to reducing organizational inefficiencies, and this round of layoffs seems to align with those efforts rather than being a response to economic headwinds and ongoing labor market trends. The report claims Alexandr Wang from Meta's superintelligence labs noted smaller teams can make faster decisions, resulting in more impact. Internally, Meta's AI unit was also considered pretty large and inefficient. Despite the cuts, Meta isn't necessarily saying goodbye to those workers - they can reapply for other roles within the organization if they choose not to accept the severance package, said to be worth 16 weeks of pay plus two weeks per completed year of service. Moreover, the company remains committed to building out its AI models and making other investments in AI infrastructure to compete with the likes of OpenAI, Amazon and Google. In 2025, Meta's expenses could reach $114-118 billion, with AI driving even higher costs in 2026. The company's 29th data center, a campus with the potential to scale up to 1GW in El Paso, Texas, is already said to "support both the traditional servers of today and future generations of AI-enabled hardware," reflecting Meta's long-term commitment. Since warning employees of an "intense year" and laying off 3,600 workers in February 2025, Zuckerberg hasn't cut as many workers as we might've expected - 100 in April and 600 this month, per layoffs.fyi.

Meta lays off 600 in AI division despite billion-dollar AI push

On Wednesday, Meta's Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced in a memo that the company is laying off approximately 600 employees within its AI unit. The news, first reported by Axios and confirmed by CNBC, affects staff working on AI infrastructure, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) group, and other product-related teams. Despite the cuts, Meta says it's still hiring for its new superintelligence division, dubbed TBD Lab. Impacted employees were told their last day will be Nov. 21 and are currently in a "non-working notice period." The company is offering 16 weeks of severance pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service, and is encouraging affected employees to apply for other roles within Meta. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the internal memo, according to TechCrunch. The layoffs don't appear to signal a retreat from AI. Just a day earlier, Reuters reported that Meta closed a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital to fund a massive data center expansion -- a move analysts say is key to supporting its next generation of AI tools. This also follows an aggressive AI hiring spree. In recent months, Meta has lured top talent from OpenAI, brought Wang on board, and invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI.

Exclusive: Meta overhauls its legacy AI operations

Why it matters: The company concluded that its long-standing AI efforts had become overly bureaucratic and hopes the reorganization will create a more agile operation, according to an internal memo seen by Axios. * "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang wrote in the memo. Driving the news: Meta is cutting roughly 600 positions out of the several thousand roles within Meta's superintelligence lab, Axios has learned. * The cuts will affect the company's FAIR AI research unit, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab unit. * U.S. employees will learn by 7 a.m. Pacific time whether their jobs are affected, Wang said in the memo. * The company is encouraging affected employees to apply for other jobs within Meta and expects most will find another position internally. * "This is a talented group of individuals, and we need their skills in other parts of the company," Wang said. The other side: The company is still actively recruiting and hiring for its TBD Lab unit. * Most recently, the company hired OpenAI research scientist Ananya Kumar, according to a source. * Before that, Meta nabbed Andrew Tulloch, a co-founder of Mira Murati's Thinking Machines. Between the lines: CEO Mark Zuckerberg grew concerned several months ago that the company's existing AI efforts weren't leading to needed breakthroughs or improved performance.

Meta Tells Employees Their Jobs Are Being Automated

Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg is well known for running some pretty high-stakes experiments with his companies. His latest, it seems, is to gut the tech giant of its human workers and replace them with AI. In an internal memo viewed by Business Insider, Meta executives told workers in the firm's risk management division their jobs will be "eliminated" thanks to advances in automation. Michael Protti, Meta's chief compliance officer, told risk management workers on Wednesday that the corporation would be moving toward an automated risk process instead. "As a result, we don't need as many roles in some areas as we once did," he wrote in the memo, per BI. Protti fell short of explaining how many jobs were being automated, though added that the tech giant had made "significant progress" in "building more global technical controls" in the risk management process. "This standardization means that many routine decisions can now be handled efficiently by technology, freeing our teams to focus on the most complex and high-impact challenges," Protti said. In the corporate world, risk management is the task of identifying and reducing threats to a company's earnings or operations. There are tons of risks that can rear their head -- from cybersecurity threats to negative hits to reputation, it can be a pretty complicated job. That makes it all the more baffling that Meta feels ready to hand off the role to notoriously buggy AI. Whether or not it can do the job remains to be seen -- similar initiatives have failed spectacularly, like Klarna's recent bid to automate its customer service department with AI. In a devilish twist, AI itself has been a pretty big cause for concern for human risk managers. On top of its 95 percent failure rate in corporate settings, the buzzy new tech introduces a host of never-before seen threats to the business environment, like gaps in cybersecurity or vulnerability to manipulation. For example, a car dealership in California took a big loss when a customer versed in AI-prompt hacking managed to sucker a customer service chatbot into selling him a brand new 2024 Chevy Tahoe for one dollar. Meta recently fired some 600 employees from its AI Superintelligence lab, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg had recently been shelling out billions to recruit new talent. Whether this gamble pays off for Meta's executives, the move underscores a growing reality in tech: not even those building AI are safe from its disruptive reach.

Meta to axe hundreds of AI jobs after offering $100m signing bonuses

Meta is to cut 600 artificial intelligence (AI) jobs after a hiring spree in which the Facebook owner offered signing bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The social media giant will cut staff from its new superintelligence division, which has several thousand employees, with the lay-offs primarily affecting managers and members of its Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (Fair) unit. It comes after a multibillion-dollar hiring spree personally led by Meta's billionaire founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder scooped up dozens of talented AI researchers from rivals by dangling vast bonuses and share deals, with some worth north of $100m (£75m). Meta reportedly even offered a $1bn deal to one executive, Andrew Tulloch, the co-founder of Thinking Machines, an AI start-up. Meta disputed the size of the alleged deal, calling it "ridiculous". The pay deals have been seen as an indication of the exuberance in the tech sector amid concerns over an AI bubble. Mr Zuckerberg has promised to spend $65bn this year alone to catch up with rivals such as OpenAI, the ChatGPT developer. Mr Zuckerberg also hired Alexandr Wang, the former chief executive of Scale AI, this year to lead its "superintelligence" team. The deal saw Meta take a 49pc stake in Scale AI for $14.3bn. The job cuts will reportedly fall heavily on Meta's Fair division, which previously led much of its fundamental AI research. The lab has already lost its head, Joelle Pineau, who quit earlier this year to join AI start-up Cohere. While Meta's Fair team led the original work on the company's AI technology, known as Llama, Mr Zuckerberg has this year repeatedly shaken up and restructured its AI division, delaying the release of a new technology amid concerns over its performance. 'Small, talent-dense teams' Mr Wang has since been tasked with leading Meta's renewed AI push, and Mr Zuckerberg has sought to concentrate on working with a smaller, core team. In July, Mr Zuckerberg said: "I've just gotten a little bit more convinced around the ability for small, talent-dense teams to be the optimal configuration for driving frontier research." However, the first products from Meta's new superintelligence team have been met with criticism. An AI video app it launched, called Vibes, was derided as an "infinite slop machine". "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, said in a note to staff. Axios first reported the memo. Some of the staff will be offered roles in other parts of the business. "This is a talented group of individuals, and we need their skills in other parts of the company," Mr Wang said.

Meta to cut 600 jobs from its artificial intelligence division

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta is cutting 600 jobs in its AI division, according to US media. Meta is cutting roughly 600 artificial intelligence (AI) jobs even as it continues to hire more workers for its superintelligence lab, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Axios first reportedthe cuts, which will affect Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure units. Its newer TBD Lab unit won't be affected. Citing a memo sent to workers by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, Axios said the company is encouraging employees affected to apply for other jobs at Meta, with most expected to find other roles. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the memo, Axios reported. The California-based company is also still recruiting and hiring for TBD Lab, which is developing Meta's latest large language models (LLMs). Large language models are the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Meta's Llama. Meta has taken a different approach to AI than many of its rivals, releasing its flagship Llama system for free as a semi-open source product that enables people to use and modify some of its key components. Meta says more than one billion people use its AI products each month, but it's also widely seen as lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Google in encouraging consumer use of LLMs.

Meta to cut 600 jobs in artificial intelligence: reports

New York (AFP) - Facebook owner Meta is cutting 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence division in a move intended to streamline operations after an aggressive hiring spree, US media reported Wednesday. The job cuts will not affect the TBD Lab, an operation established by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other publications. The lab's staffing was quickly grown through the poaching of top researchers with expensive pay packages from rivals like OpenAI and Apple. Rather, the job cuts will target teams focused on artificial intelligence products and infrastructure, aiming to boost efficiency without sacrificing work on the company's most ambitious ventures, according to a Wall Street Journal report that said many of the affected workers could be deployed elsewhere by the company. The New York Times described the job cuts as aimed at addressing "organizational bloat" following aggressive hiring to build up the AI program. Both newspapers quoted a memo from Chief AI Office Alexandr Wang that the job cuts mean "fewer conversations will be required to make a decision." Meta did not respond to an AFP query on the matter.

Meta cuts 600 jobs at Superintelligence Labs

The move impacts Meta's AI infrastructure units, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit and other product-related positions. Meta cut roughly 600 jobs from its Superintelligence Labs. The new division was set up earlier this year as a multibillion-dollar effort to boost the company's AI innovation. The cuts do not affect Meta's newest hires in AI, which consist of some of the brightest minds in the field reportedly earning hundreds of millions to stay with the company. Some of the big name hires include former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman; co-founder of Safe Superintelligence Daniel Gross; Apple's former AI-lead Ruoming Pang, and more recently, Thinking Machines Lab's co-founder Andrew Tulloch. The recent layoffs were announced in a memo by Superintelligence Labs' lead and Meta's first-ever chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, who himself was hired just months ago as part of a $14.3bn investment into his start-up Scale AI. The division is the umbrella containing all of Meta's AI efforts. The move impacts the company's AI infrastructure units, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit and other product-related positions - teams which were considered to be bloated. FAIR was Meta's first foray into AI which began back in 2013. Following the cuts, Meta's Superintelligence Labs sits at around 3,000 employees, sources told publications. The exact number, however, remains unclear. However, the new top tier hires, working directly under Wang, have been spared, highlighting CEO Mark Zuckerberg's bet on expensive new talent over longer-existing employees, the sources added. The latest job cuts come after Meta announced plans earlier this year to cut 5pc of its global staff, starting with its lowest performing employees. Zuckerberg, at the time, described it as his plans to "raise the bar on performance management" and "move out low performers faster". The company said it aimed to spend up to $118bn this year. It also signalled that its AI-related expenses would increase into 2026. Some of its big bills include a $10bn deal with Google to use its cloud services and a $14.2bn deal with CoreWeave for its computing power. Earlier this week, the company struck a $27bn financing deal with Blue Owl Capital to fund its biggest data centre project globally. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Meta lays off 600 AI workers to streamline its Superintelligence Labs unit - SiliconANGLE

Meta lays off 600 AI workers to streamline its Superintelligence Labs unit In a surprising move that bucks the trend of Silicon Valley companies aggressively hiring almost anyone with artificial intelligence skills, Meta Platforms Inc. is letting go of more than 600 people from its AI teams. The news was first reported today by Axios, and Meta today confirmed it in a statement to TechCrunch. The layoffs will affect three of the company's four AI teams, including its legacy research, product and infrastructure units. The smaller Meta TBD Lab, which is a new division within the company's Superintelligence Labs organization, is not affected by the cuts. The layoffs were announced by Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang in an email to employees, who gave the usual excuse that smaller teams get more work done. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang reportedly wrote in the email. A report by CNBC quoted an anonymous source within Meta as saying that Wang considered the AI unit to be bloated, with teams such as FAIR and product-oriented groups competing for compute resources. Moreover, when Meta went on a hiring spree this summer to create its Superintelligence Labs, that new unit inherited the oversized teams. Axios said some of the affected employees have been told they're now in a "non-working notice period" and do not have to go to work. They'll officially be terminated on Nov. 21, and they'll be able to use the intervening time to search for another role at Meta if they wish. Should they leave the company, they'll get at least 16 weeks of severance pay. Beyond Wang's reasoning that smaller teams will be able to work more efficiently, the move may be seen as a cost-cutting measure by Meta. The company's spending has escalated dramatically in the last couple of years, with billions of dollars being spent on building out the data center infrastructure necessary to power its AI systems. By laying off 600 workers, the company should be able to save several million. Still, that's only a small dent for a company that estimated its fiscal 2025 expenses will come to around $116 billion. The layoffs may also have something to do with growing frustration by Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) with the company's progress in AI. Its Llama 4 models received only a tepid response when they were released in April. It has had very little to show for its AI investments since, while rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Google LLC continue to release newer, more powerful AI models. Meta had already laid off thousands of non-AI staff earlier this year, pushing out "low performers," but then in the summer it changed tack and went on a mini hiring blitz, dishing out multimillion-dollar salaries to some of the best AI developers in the business. In addition to hiring Wang, Meta also bought a chunk of his former business Scale AI Inc. and hired former GitHub Inc. CEO Nat Friedman and Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross. In addition, it reportedly poached a number of researchers from OpenAI and Google in order to staff the new TBD Lab. However, Zuckerberg perhaps hinted at the layoffs earlier this summer when he said the company doesn't need a "massive" team to make breakthroughs in AI. Echoing Wang's words today, he said that it's better to go with "the smallest group of people who can fit the whole thing in their head, so there's just an absolute premium for the best and most talented people." Even so, the layoffs are unprecedented in an AI industry that to date has been all about spending money, and it'll be interesting to see if any of Meta's competitors make similar moves in the months to come. Meta is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings results next week, when it may reveal more about the reasons for these layoffs -- or not.

Meta AI layoffs today: 600 jobs are already being cut from Alexandr Wang's superintelligence lab

Fast Company has reached out to Meta for comment. That lab, dedicated to pursuing an artificial intelligence system that would reportedly surpass human intelligence, was announced back in June after Meta said it was investing $14.3 billion in Alexandr Wang's Scale AI and bringing him on board. The cuts come as Big Tech ramps up its investment in artificial intelligence, pouring billions in an increasingly competitive, high-stakes AI arms race. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the social technology company plans to invest between $60 billion and $65 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 alone.

Zuckerberg Firing Hundreds of AI Developers After Hiring Spree

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is once again shaking up its artificial intelligence unit: as Axios reports, the company is cutting some 600 roles from its so-called Superintelligence lab. Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang noted in a memo that the company is looking to streamline the greater AI department. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," he wrote, as quoted by Axios. It's a notable new development, considering Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive hiring spree earlier this year, trying to court AI talent by offering workers up to $1 billion, multi-year job contracts. (The company says it's continuing to hire for its TBD Lab, which was created last month to work on next-generation AI models, and encouraging the culled Superintelligence workers to apply for other roles within Meta.) Still, it's a sign of turmoil at Meta, which has been swept up in the heated AI race, spending copious amounts to secure talent. In June, the company paid $15 billion for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI, appointing then-CEO Wang as the lead of its own AI efforts, and onboarding a number of the company's 1,500 staffers. In July, Zuckerberg announced Meta's Superintelligence AI lab, as part of a poorly-defined effort to create a "personal superintelligence" that "helps you achieve your goals." Less than a month later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was freezing AI hiring as part of a "basic organizational planning" process. At the time, Meta split the Superintelligence team into four teams, including its TBD Lab. A separate AI safety-focused team, dubbed FAIR, will also be affected by the latest layoffs. However, Zuckerberg couldn't stay away from acquiring new talent, hiring Thinking Machines cofounder Andrew Tulloch earlier this month, as well as OpenAI research scientist Ananya Kumar, per Axios' sources. In short, the company's AI efforts have already gone through several major changes as Meta continues to stay relevant in the ongoing AI race. Just earlier this week, Meta announced it was entering a partnership with Blue Owl Capital as part of an enormous $27 billion AI data center project. Executives have maintained that the latest cuts are a sign of capitulation on its AI efforts and that superintelligence remains a top priority. Meanwhile, the industry is continuing to search for ways of generating revenue to start making up for billions of dollars in losses. Analysts are warning of a growing AI bubble that could burst at any moment, potentially taking down the US economy with it. Whether Zuckerberg's major bets on the tech and his burning desire to hire new talent will allow Meta to weather such a storm remains to be seen.

Meta cutting 600 AI jobs even as it continues to hire more for its superintelligence lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 600 artificial intelligence jobs even as it continues to hire more workers for its superintelligence lab, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Axios first reported the cuts, which will affect Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure units. Its newer TBD Lab unit won't be affected. Citing a memo sent to workers by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, Axios said the company is encouraging employees affected to apply for other jobs at Meta, with most expected to find other roles. The Menlo Park, California-based company is also still recruiting and hiring for TBD Lab, which is developing Meta's latest large language models. Large language models are the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini -- and Meta's Llama. Meta has taken a different approach to AI than many of its rivals, releasing its flagship Llama system for free as an open-source product that enables people to use and modify some of its key components. Meta says more than a billion people use its AI products each month, but it's also widely seen as lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Google in encouraging consumer use of large language models, also known as LLMs.

Meta cutting 600 AI jobs even as it continues to hire more for its superintelligence lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 600 artificial intelligence jobs even as it continues to hire more workers for its superintelligence lab, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Axios first reported the cuts, which will affect Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure units. Its newer TBD Lab unit won't be affected. Citing a memo sent to workers by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, Axios said the company is encouraging employees affected to apply for other jobs at Meta, with most expected to find other roles. The Menlo Park, California-based company is also still recruiting and hiring for TBD Lab, which is developing Meta's latest large language models. Large language models are the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini -- and Meta's Llama. Meta has taken a different approach to AI than many of its rivals, releasing its flagship Llama system for free as an open-source product that enables people to use and modify some of its key components. Meta says more than a billion people use its AI products each month, but it's also widely seen as lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Google in encouraging consumer use of large language models, also known as LLMs.

Meta to lay off roughly 600 employees within AI unit

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced plans to lay off around 600 employees within its artificial intelligence (AI) unit. The layoffs, as first reported by Axios, will remove the roughly 600 roles from within Meta's Superintelligence Labs division. Meta's chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, rationalized the layoffs in an internal memo, stating: "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact." Wang also confirmed that the company is helping affected employees find other jobs within Meta, according to Axios. "This is a talented group of individuals, and we need their skills in other parts of the company," he wrote. The layoffs come as Meta continues to look to enhance its AI output and is still actively recruiting for its TBD Lab unit, "an elite division tasked with developing the company's next-generation AI models," Business Insider reported.

Meta Cutting 600 AI Jobs Even as It Continues to Hire More for Its Superintelligence Lab

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) -- Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 600 artificial intelligence jobs even as it continues to hire more workers for its superintelligence lab, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Axios first reported the cuts, which will affect Meta's Fundamental AI Research, or FAIR unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure units. Its newer TBD Lab unit won't be affected. Citing a memo sent to workers by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, Axios said the company is encouraging employees affected to apply for other jobs at Meta, with most expected to find other roles. The Menlo Park, California-based company is also still recruiting and hiring for TBD Lab, which is developing Meta's latest large language models. Large language models are the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini -- and Meta's Llama. Meta has taken a different approach to AI than many of its rivals, releasing its flagship Llama system for free as an open-source product that enables people to use and modify some of its key components. Meta says more than a billion people use its AI products each month, but it's also widely seen as lagging behind competitors such as OpenAI and Google in encouraging consumer use of large language models, also known as LLMs.

Meta Lays Off Risk Employees As Technology Takes Over Jobs

Earlier this week, Meta also laid off 600 employees from Superintelligence Labs, its AI division. Meta employed 75,945 workers as of June. Now the tech giant is cutting down its ranks as improvements in technology put some employees out of work. According to a Business Insider report published Thursday, Meta informed employees in its risk division that it was eliminating roles due to advancements in the company's internal automation and compliance technologies. Michel Protti, Meta's chief compliance and privacy officer of product, delivered the news, writing in an internal memo viewed by BI that Meta has been moving away from manual reviews toward automated processes. Now, technology can automatically handle many routine risk-related decisions. "By moving from bespoke, manual reviews to a more consistent and automated process, we've been able to deliver more accurate and reliable compliance outcomes across Meta," Protti wrote in the memo. Related: Meta Is Hiring Entry-Level Workers -- and Most Salaries Start Above $200,000 Standardizing processes means that technology can now handle many everyday risk decisions, allowing human teams to focus on "complex" and "high-impact" tasks, Protti explained. "As a result, we don't need as many roles in some areas as we once did," Protti wrote, without sharing how many positions would be eliminated. This restructuring affects teams under the Product Risk Program Manager, Shared Services and Global Security & Privacy (GSP) groups. Related: Meta Is Using Your AI Chatbot Conversations for the Ad Algorithm on Facebook and Instagram Meta spokesperson Thomas Richards confirmed the cuts, telling BI that the changes are part of Meta's broader effort to "reflect the maturity of our program and innovate faster while maintaining high compliance standards." Earlier this week, Meta also laid off 600 employees from the Superintelligence Labs division, its AI arm, as part of a separate streamlining effort led by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang. In an internal memo viewed by BI, Wang wrote that the cuts would help the company make decisions more quickly and that affected employees in North America had been notified as of Wednesday. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote. "It's never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our Al effort." Related: Meta Is Adding AI to Facebook Dating to Help 'Anyone Tired of Swiping' Find a Better Match Meta established its Superintelligence Labs in June to work towards "personal superintelligence," or AI systems personalized for individuals that surpass human capabilities. The team includes new hires poached from Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple and other companies. After the cuts, Meta's Superintelligence Labs team has around 3,000 employees, per CNBC. Meta last cut 3,600 low-performing workers, or 5% of its workforce, in February. The company is the sixth most valuable in the world, with a market capitalization of $1.848 trillion at the time of writing.

Meta Is Laying Off 600 Workers in Its AI Division -- What You Need to Know

Booming profits and demand for AI hasn't stopped Meta (META) from laying off employees. The Facebook and Instagram parent is trimming about 600 roles in parts of its Superintelligence Labs led by Alexandr Wang, Axios reported Wednesday, though the company continues to hire for other AI-related positions in the unit. The company's newly formed "TBD Lab" unit of its Superintelligence Labs -- which includes many of its high-profile AI hires poached from other companies in recent months -- has been spared from the layoffs, according to the report. Meta didn't respond to an Investopedia request for comment in time for publication. Meta is reportedly encouraging employees who received notice to apply for other roles internally, expecting that many will be absorbed by other departments. Back in July, CFO Susan Li told investors that Meta planned to grow its overall headcount through 2026 after a large round of layoffs earlier in the year, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense, though the company reportedly moved to freeze AI hiring in August amid concerns about growing costs. Meta, which is set to report earnings next Wednesday, is not the only big tech giant that's made cuts this year. Several of its Magnificent 7 peers including Microsoft (MSFT), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) have undergone layoffs in recent months even as their revenues rose. That's added to worries that growing spending on AI could lead major technology companies to announce more job cuts in a bid to maintain profit margins. Shares of Meta closed fractionally higher on Wednesday. They've added roughly one-quarter of their value in 2025.

Meta plans to cut 600 jobs at AI Superintelligence Labs

SAN FRANCISCO -- Meta on Wednesday said that it plans to cut approximately 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence division, according to a memo sent to employees that was relayed to The New York Times, as the company seeks to keep pace with competitors in the furious contest over the technology. The layoffs will be in Meta's so-called Superintelligence Labs, which is the umbrella name for the company's AI efforts. The division has a few thousand employees, though the exact number of workers was unclear. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, has been on a hiring spree to stack his company with top AI researchers, including a new chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, earlier this year. The cuts on Wednesday do not affect these newest hires, who have been empowered to develop "superintelligence," or artificial intelligence that exceeds the human brain. Instead, the job cuts are aimed at cleaning up the organizational bloat that resulted from three years of building up Meta's AI efforts too quickly, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The layoffs aim to help Meta develop AI products more quickly, they said. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the memo circulated to employees. The cuts, which were earlier reported by Axios, come at an intensely competitive time for Meta, which has spent the past three years dealing with the rapid onset of AI. After ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft began hiring furiously to build the next generation of AI chatbots and other products. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, struggled to keep up with the pack. After early success developing its open-source AI model, called Llama, its progress stagnated. The company went on a fresh hiring spree and made strategic errors, leading to product development issues over the past 18 months. After a rocky first half of this year, Zuckerberg moved to restart the AI efforts. In June, he invested $14.3 billion in ScaleAI, an artificial intelligence startup that was cofounded by Wang. Zuckerberg then brought ScaleAI's top talent to Meta's Superintelligence Labs, including Wang. Zuckerberg has since also spent billions recruiting top researchers from other AI labs and companies, including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Meta has dangled pay packages to some that number well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In August, Zuckerberg split Meta Superintelligence into four groups. One is called FAIR, which is focused on AI research; a second is working on superintelligence; another on products; and a fourth on infrastructure, such as data centers and other AI hardware. The planned cuts will affect employees at FAIR and in the product division, according to Wang's memo. Employees who are laid off were set to receive emails by 10 a.m. ET, and the company plans to try to find other positions internally for those affected. No cuts will be made to TBD, the team building superintelligence and managing Meta's large language models, which drive chatbots and other AI products, the people with knowledge of the situation said. The company is still hiring AI researchers in the TBD unit, which is managed by Wang, the people said. Meta executives have emphasized that the cuts do not mean they are retrenching on AI efforts, and that superintelligence remains among Zuckerberg's top priorities for the company.

Meta layoffs: Why Facebook parent company is firing 600 employees from its AI team? Zuckerberg's motive revealed in Alexandr Wang's memo

Meta's Superintelligence Labs is cutting 600 employees to boost decision-making speed, according to an internal memo. This move impacts legacy AI research and product units, while a new high-profile AI group remains untouched. The layoffs follow significant hiring of top AI talent, sparking debate about job security and the company's strategy. Meta, Facebook's parent company is laying off 600 employees in its Superintelligence Labs division, chief AI officer said in an internal memo. Alexandr Wang said the cuts would help the company to make decisions more quickly, reports Business Insider. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the internal memo, adding that the affected employees had been notified. Meta didn't comment beyond the memo. The layoffs in the Superintelligence Labs division comes months after Meta spent hundreds of millions of dollars hiring engineers and researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, and other companies. ALSO READ: Daniel Naroditsky's mysterious death sparks outrage online: Why are fans blaming former chess champion Vladimir Kramnik? New details emerge Earlier today, we made some changes to MSL to move us toward being the most agile and talent-dense team in the industry. By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact. It's never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our Al effort. Anyone in North America whose role was impacted has already been notified. Those who may be impacted in EMEA have been notified and remain subject to consultation. We are supporting the majority of those impacted in finding new roles at the company. We have spun up a tiger team of recruiters to help this group find the right match for their expertise and land in roles through an expedited hiring process. This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading Al-native talent. Our goal is to enable MSL to move faster. We remain excited about the models we are training, our ambitious compute plans, and the products we are building, and I'm confident in our path to superintelligence. ALSO READ: Is Earth's second moon dangerous? The strange and mysterious case of 2025 PN7 explained The Menlo Park tech giant's layoffs will hit three parts of its four-part AI unit, by cutting workers from its legacy AI research team and from product and infrastructure units focused on AI. Its small TBD Lab team, which is a new and high-profile group focused on cutting-edge AI models, will escape the job cuts, per Axios' report. Employees learned before 7 a.m. on Wednesday whether they'd lose their jobs, Axios reported. According to CNBC, some laid-off staffers were told they're in a "non-working notice period" until November 21 and that they could use the time to look for another role at Meta. Should they leave, they'll be able to accept severance packages that provide at least 16 weeks of pay, CNBC reported. The employees were told that "during this time, your internal access will be removed, and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta. You may use this time to search for another role at Meta." To soften the blow of the layoff on the affected employees, they will be paid 16 weeks of severance and two weeks for every completed year in the company, "minus your notice period," as per the memo. ALSO READ: Earth's new companion 'quasi moon' astonishes astronomers as it shares its orbit around the sun. What is 2025 PN7? However, sources told CNBC that the layoffs will not impact employees in TBD Labs -- a newer division led by Wang that houses many of the high-profile AI experts hired earlier this year. The unit was spared from the cuts, reflecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg's confidence in his costly new hires over some of the company's longer-tenured staff. According to those familiar with the situation, many within Meta viewed the AI division as bloated, with research teams like FAIR frequently competing with more product-focused groups for computing resources. The decision to layoff over 600 employees has sparked anger on social media. People noted that even jobs in artificial intelligence are no longer safe. The decision to target legacy employees also contributed to the backlash. ALSO READ: Zohran Mamdani takes a jibe at PM Modi while addressing Hindu-American voters on Diwali, says 'grew up with vision of pluralistic India' On Blind, an anonymous community for verified professionals, news of the layoffs sparked a conversation about job safety. "Imagine working at Meta for years for a few 100k and being told by people who joined few months ago getting paid millions that you are being laid off," wrote one user. "The billionaire forgets that people depend on job for food. They are not just spreadsheet rows," wrote a Meta employee. One person suggested that the jobs might be outsourced. "In totally unrelated news, Meta found out there were 600 non-Chinese in the AI division a week ago," the user wrote. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

Meta's AI Shakeup: 600 Jobs Cut To Speed Up Progress - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) confirmed on Wednesday that about 600 roles will be eliminated from its artificial intelligence division as part of an effort to streamline operations and become more agile. META stock is moving. See the real-time price action here. Job Cuts The decision was disclosed in an internal memo from Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined the company in June following Meta's $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Read Next: Latest Beyond Meat Short-Seller? Martin Shkreli, Of Course The layoffs will affect staff in AI infrastructure, Fundamental Research and product-related teams, according to Axios. Some employees were informed Wednesday that their official end date is Nov. 21. Until then, they will remain on a nonworking notice period without system access, but can apply for new internal positions. Meta will provide 16 weeks of severance pay plus two additional weeks for each full year of service, minus the notice period. AI Strategy The company has been restructuring its AI strategy to compete with OpenAI and Google, investing heavily in computing resources and hiring. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed dissatisfaction with Meta's AI momentum, particularly after the lukewarm reception of the Llama 4 models launched in April. Following the Scale AI deal, he introduced Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. In July's earnings update, Meta projected 2025 expenses between $114 billion and $118 billion, raising its earlier forecast and noting that AI spending will drive even higher growth in 2026. The company is set to report its third-quarter results next week. Read Next: Elon Musk Says Head Of NASA Has '2 Digit IQ' -- SpaceX's Moon Deal Hangs In Balance Photo: Shutterstock METAMeta Platforms Inc$732.19-0.15%Overview This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meta layoffs: After offering billion dollar pay packages, Mark Zuckerberg-led firm to cut 600 AI jobs

Meta is tightening its focus on artificial intelligence, announcing job cuts that will impact around 600 employees across several key AI divisions. The move comes amid a broader restructuring of its Superintelligence Labs and follows the company's record-breaking financing deal to accelerate data center expansion. ALSO READ: Corporate China in turmoil after Yu Menglong's sudden death sends shockwave According to a report from Axios, Meta plans to cut around 600 roles within its Superintelligence Labs, a key division driving the company's artificial intelligence development. The layoffs affect the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, as well as product-related AI and AI infrastructure teams, though the newly formed TBD Lab will remain untouched, as per a report by Reuters. Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang reportedly told staff that reducing team size would "streamline decision-making and increase the responsibility, scope, and impact of each role." The move reflects Meta's effort to tighten operations while continuing to invest heavily in next-generation AI systems, as per a report by Reuters. ALSO READ: Poland warns Putin: Enter our airspace and you will be forced down, sent to the Hague Just a day before the reported layoffs, Meta finalized a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital, its largest-ever private capital agreement. The funds will support the company's largest data center project, crucial for powering future AI models and infrastructure, as per a report by Reuters. Analysts say the financing will help Meta scale its AI ambitions by shifting upfront costs to external investors while maintaining control of its long-term projects, as per a report by Reuters. ALSO READ: Taylor Swift worried about Travis Kelce's drug history -- insiders say it's taking a toll Meta reorganized its AI research earlier this year under the Superintelligence Labs banner after several senior staff departures and the lukewarm reception of its Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to invest "hundreds of billions of dollars" into new data centers capable of supporting superintelligence, a point where machines could rival human capabilities, as per a report by Reuters. Meta began its AI journey in 2013 with the launch of FAIR and the recruitment of Yann LeCun, one of the pioneers of deep learning. Despite the restructuring, Meta remains committed to advancing AI, betting that leaner teams and massive infrastructure investments will push it closer to its superintelligence goals. Which Meta units are affected by the layoffs? The cuts impact FAIR, product-related AI, and AI infrastructure teams. Will employees lose their jobs permanently? Meta says most affected staff are encouraged to apply for other roles within the company.

Meta Cuts 600 Roles in AI Unit to Make It More Agile | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The cuts will not affect Meta's newly formed TBD Lab unit and will instead target its FAIR AI research, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, Axios reported Wednesday (Oct. 22), citing an internal memo from Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang. "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the memo, per the report. Meta did not immediately reply to PYMNTS' request for comment. Meta expects that most of the employees affected by the cuts will find another position within the company, according to the Axios report. The company is still hiring for its TBD Lab unit. It was reported in June that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had grown frustrated with the company's limitations in AI and was personally recruiting AI researchers and engineers. Later that month, it was reported that Meta took a 49% stake in data-labeling startup Scale AI and hired its founder, Wang, to join Meta's new superintelligence unit. A massive recruitment drive continued through the summer until late August, when it was reported that Meta paused hiring for AI professionals and was restructuring its AI division. During a July earnings call, Zuckerberg said "personal superintelligence" clipped to a user's glasses might be the next smartphone. "Over the last few months, we've begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves, and the improvement is slow for now, but undeniable," Zuckerberg said. "Developing superintelligence, which we define as AI that surpasses human intelligence in every way, is now in sight. Meta's vision is to bring personal superintelligence to everyone so that people can direct it toward what they value in their own lives."

Meta is cutting around 600 roles in AI unit: Axios - The Economic Times

Meta is reportedly cutting approximately 600 roles within its Superintelligence Labs AI unit, impacting FAIR, product AI, and AI infrastructure teams. The TBD Lab, however, remains unaffected by these layoffs. This move follows a reorganization of Meta's AI efforts in June.Meta is cutting roughly 600 positions out of the several thousand roles within its Superintelligence Labs artificial intelligence unit, Axios reported on Wednesday. The cuts will affect the company's Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab, according to the report, which cited an internal memo. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June after senior staff departures and a poor reception for its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said in July Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for Superintelligence. The company began investing in AI in 2013, with the launch of FAIR and recruiting Yann LeCun, its chief AI scientist, to lead the effort and building a global research network focused on deep learning.

Meta Superintelligence Labs Cuts 600 Jobs, Highlighting AI Bubble Risks

Meta Superintelligence Labs Layoffs Highlight Human Cost of Big Tech GenAI Investments Meta has cut roughly 600 roles from its Superintelligence Labs, impacting infrastructure, FAIR-style research, and product teams. Mark Zuckerberg and Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the move is meant to boost agility, focusing "load-bearing" work in fewer hands. The elite TBD Lab remains untouched, and selective hiring continues. Still, the layoffs raise concerns about efficiency, the AI bubble, and the human cost of big tech's pursuit of GenAI. After months of aggressive tech investment, appears to be consolidating its teams. Other tech giants are doing the same: Intel, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all reduced headcount in 2025, reflecting an industry-wide effort to streamline AI projects.

Meta slashing 600 jobs in AI unit after splurging on new hires: report

Meta is cutting roughly 600 positions out of the several thousand roles within its Superintelligence Labs artificial intelligence unit, Axios reported on Wednesday. The cuts will affect the company's Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab, according to the report, which cited an internal memo. Fewer team members would streamline decision-making and increase the responsibility, scope and impact of each role, the report said, quoting Alexandr Wang, the company's chief AI officer. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. The company is encouraging affected employees to apply for other jobs within Meta and expects most will find a position internally, the report said. On Tuesday, Meta struck a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital, the company's largest-ever private capital agreement, to fund its biggest data center project. Some analysts said the deal will allow Meta to achieve its massive AI ambitions by shifting much of the upfront cost and risk to external capital, while retaining a smaller ownership share in the project. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June after senior staff departures and a poor reception for its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally led an aggressive hiring spree for the unit to revitalize Meta's AI efforts. Zuckerberg said in July the company would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for superintelligence, a theoretical milestone where machines could match or surpass human capabilities. The company began investing in AI in 2013, with the launch of FAIR and recruiting Yann LeCun, its chief AI scientist, to lead the effort and building a global research network focused on deep learning.

Meta to cut 600 jobs in Superintelligence Labs as AI unit gets major shake-up

Meta is cutting around 600 positions out of the several thousand roles in its Superintelligence Labs, the Facebook owner said on Wednesday as it looks to make its artificial intelligence unit more flexible and responsive. The job cuts will affect Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, as well as teams focused on product-related AI and AI infrastructure, the company said. The newly formed TBD Lab, which comprises "a few dozen" researchers and engineers developing Meta's next-generation foundation models, will not be affected. Axios first reported the job cuts announcement, citing a company memo. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said fewer team members would streamline decision-making and increase the responsibility, scope and impact of each role. The company said it was encouraging affected employees to apply for other jobs within Meta. Meta on Tuesday struck a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital, the company's largest-ever private capital agreement, to fund its biggest data center project. Some analysts said the deal will allow Meta to achieve its massive AI ambitions by shifting much of the upfront cost and risk to external capital, while retaining a smaller ownership share in the project. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June after senior staff departures and a poor reception for its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally led an aggressive hiring spree for the unit to revitalize Meta's AI efforts. Superintelligence Labs includes Meta's foundations, product and FAIR teams as well as TBD Lab that is focused on developing the company's next generation of AI models. The company began investing in AI in 2013 by launching FAIR unit and recruiting Yann LeCun, its chief AI scientist, to lead the effort and building a global research network focused on deep learning.

Meta is cutting 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence unit to optimize its structure

Meta announced on Wednesday the layoff of approximately 600 employees in its artificial intelligence unit, a measure presented as an effort to streamline and strengthen organizational agility. These job cuts affect several key divisions, including AI infrastructure, fundamental research (FAIR) and certain product-related roles. The decision was formalized in an internal memo signed by Alexandr Wang, recently appointed head of AI following the strategic $14.3bn investment in Scale AI. This refocusing comes as Meta continues to pursue a policy of massive investment in artificial intelligence. On Tuesday, the group signed a $27bn agreement with Blue Owl Capital to finance its Hyperion data center in Louisiana, touted as one of the most ambitious in the world. In this context, the layoffs reflect a desire to eliminate internal redundancies and optimize the structure to better meet the demands of a rapidly accelerating sector, where Meta is trying to catch up with OpenAI and Alphabet.

Meta to Cut Hundreds of Jobs Within AI Unit, Axios Reports, Citing Internal Memo

-- Meta Platforms is cutting roughly 600 positions out of the several thousand roles within its artificial-intelligence unit, Axios reported, citing an internal memo seen by the company. -- "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang wrote in the memo, Axios said. -- The cuts will affect Meta's FAIR AI research, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab unit, the report said. It added that Meta is encouraging affected employees to apply for other jobs within the company and expects most to find another position internally.

Meta is cutting around 600 roles in AI unit, Axios reports

(Reuters) -Meta is cutting roughly 600 positions out of the several thousand roles within its Superintelligence Labs artificial intelligence unit, Axios reported on Wednesday. The cuts will affect the company's Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, product-related AI and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab, according to the report, which cited an internal memo. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. The parent of Facebook and Instagram reorganized its AI efforts under Superintelligence Labs in June after senior staff departures and a poor reception for its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said in July Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for Superintelligence. The company began investing in AI in 2013, with the launch of FAIR and recruiting Yann LeCun, its chief AI scientist, to lead the effort and building a global research network focused on deep learning. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

After AI, Meta cuts over 100 jobs in risk and compliance teams, automates privacy reviews: Report

Critics inside the company question whether automation can fully replace human oversight on sensitive user data. Meta's latest round of layoffs has affected around 700 employees across its artificial intelligence and risk review divisions. With this, the company aims to accelerate product development and streamline internal operations, as per the internal memo shared with employees, as reviewed by The New York Times. Previously, we reported that Alexandr Wang, Meta's Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, informed staff that roughly 600 positions within the AI division are being fired. He further stated that this move is taken to speed up decision-making and allow teams to move faster on building new AI products. However, sources told The Times that the layoffs extend beyond AI. More than 100 employees from Meta's risk review organization, a group tasked with ensuring compliance with global privacy regulations and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), were also laid off. For those unversed, the risk team plays a central role in maintaining Meta's adherence to the FTC's 2019 consent decree, which followed a $5 billion fine over Facebook's mishandling of user data. In a memo shared by Michel Protti, Meta's Chief Privacy Officer, it was confirmed that the company is reducing headcount in the risk subsidiary and shifting from manual privacy reviews to automated systems. "We've moved toward a more consistent and automated process that improves compliance and accuracy," Protti said in a memo, as accessed by the report. Insiders, however, described the move as a "gutting" of the department responsible for privacy and integrity reviews. As per the reports, the laid-off employees worked in Meta's London office. Critics within the company expressed doubts that automation could replace human oversight, especially in matters involving sensitive user data. This is not the first time Meta has fired employees in favour of automation. The company has gradually incorporated systems into the risk assessments over the past year, classifying updates as low risk handled by automated tools or high risk, which still requires manual review. These layoffs come at a time when CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues a multi-year restructuring campaign to make Meta leaner and more efficient amid growing competition from OpenAI and other AI companies. Back in August, Meta reorganised its AI operations into four divisions- FAIR (fundamental research), TBD Labs (advanced superintelligence research), product development, and infrastructure.

Meta AI layoffs: Big tech's hell bent on chasing AI dream at human cost

Layoffs underscore AI bubble fears as enterprise ROI remains elusive Meta just cut roughly 600 roles from its Superintelligence Labs, hitting infrastructure, FAIR-style research, and product teams. Mark Zuckerberg and new Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang frame the move as an agility play that concentrates "load-bearing" work in fewer hands. The elite TBD Lab is untouched, select hiring continues, and the company insists this isn't a retreat from its AI push. But coming only months after billion-dollar buildouts and eye-watering packages of multiple million dollars to poach star researchers, Meta's moves seem less about AI momentum and more about a leadership bet. Where the name of the game seems to be slim the ranks, protect the chosen few, and hope (with toes and fingers crossed) that the outcomes finally match the spend. Also read: Meta lays off 600 employees from AI division amid major restructuring under new chief If you've been tracking Meta's year so far, none of this is shocking anymore. Mark Zuckerberg built a gleaming new narrative around "personal superintelligence," staffed up aggressively (raiding rivals like Apple along the way), and poured billions into the data-center build out that modern AI runs on and unapologetically demands. Now, with the spotlight too bright and the roadmap too long, the company seems to have decided that the problem is not its bet on AI but it's the bureaucracy that's slowing its march to the AI promised land. Just so you would know, this isn't happening in a vacuum, and Meta isn't the only big tech company that's laying off people this year. In fact, 2025 has been a layoff drumline wherever you look - Intel carving out roughly a quarter of its workforce, Microsoft trimming in waves, Google whittling teams and shedding AI raters, Amazon shrinking HR while talking up AI efficiency. They're all indirectly saying that more AI begins with less people, in a way. But is it all paying off the way they thought it would? Let's talk about outcomes, because that's what matters, and so far it isn't looking good for big tech. MIT's "GenAI Divide" work from August 2025 is the cold, hard, reality check on all the GenAI exuberance that's infected corporate tech roadmaps everywhere. About 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots produced no measurable return. Read that again - No measurable return. That's billions sunk into proofs-of-concept that proved mostly the concept of budget burn. If you're wondering why "efficiency" is the word of the year in memos, it's because the scoreboard isn't matching all the AI hype reels. So what's Meta really optimizing for with a 600-person correction? On paper, it's all about speed and density. Fewer layers, faster calls, more "load-bearing" to empower few to take big swings. The flip side of that is, of course, fewer voices in the room leading to a narrower cone of vision, and even steeper odds on a protected lab shipping an AI miracle at industrial scale. Here's the uncomfortable question we should be asking across big tech, not just at Meta. About whether these restructurings are actually about making AI work, or about making room for AI to look like it's working? The worrying trend in the post-ChatGPT world is that the tech industry now treats AI not as a tool but as a doctrine. If results lag the doctrine, the org must be wrong, never the premise. That's how you end up with $100-million hiring packages in Q2 and "agility" layoffs in Q4. Meanwhile, the competitive theatre rolls on. Intel's slash-and-pivot is framed as the courage to chase AI chips. Google trims contractors who literally make AI products less bad. Amazon pares humans in the one department supposed to humanize work. And yes, Meta vows the investment firehose is still on full blast, even as it narrows the nozzle. Also read: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta AI dream team is breaking, with exits from Superintelligence Lab If you strip away the slogans, Meta's move reads like a hedge against two risks at once. Risk one: the models don't progress fast enough to justify the compute and the cost of talent. Risk two: the models do progress, but open-sourced rivals plus commodity infra make differentiation brutally hard. In either case, the board will prefer a smaller, sharper spear. The trouble is, spears don't build themselves, they're forged by teams that need time, safety, and, yes, some "non-load-bearing" colleagues who make the load bearable. In the end, today's AI layoffs aren't proof that superintelligence is closer. If anything, they're proof that the path to it is longer, pricier, and lonelier than all the keynotes suggested. If 95% of GenAI pilots are still failing to move the needle, then swapping humans for hope isn't transformation - it's simple cosmetics. Until then, the people asked to carry more weight will keep looking up at the promise of superintelligence and wondering why gravity still feels this heavy. Also read: Big tech layoffs amidst top AI talent hunt: Tech job market gone crazy?

Meta lays off 600 employees from AI division amid major restructuring under new chief

Zuckerberg is reportedly pushing for faster AI progress after Llama 4's lukewarm reception. Meta is laying off around 600 employees from its artificial intelligence division as part of streamlining operations and eliminating redundancy, as per company spokesperson. For the unversed, Meta has been in the headlines for poaching talent with massive packages from competitors like OpenAI, Microsoft and more. The layoffs were announced in an internal memo by Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined the company in June after Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI. The cuts are said to affect employees from the company's AI infrastructure teams, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) division, and product-oriented AI roles. Interestingly, employees at Meta's newly formed Superintelligence Labs, led by Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, have been spared. According to reports, Zuckerberg's decision places his high-profile new hires ahead of the company's legacy AI teams. As per the reports, insiders describe Meta's AI unit as having become "bloated" in recent years, with overlapping roles and competition for computing resources between research and product teams. The restructuring aims to organise the team under Wang's direction and align with Meta's long term AI roadmap. Following the job cuts, Meta's Superintelligence Labs' workforce is now estimated to be slightly less than 3,000. Employees affected were informed that their official termination date is November 21, and that they will be paid "non-working notice" until that date. Meta is offering 16 weeks of severance pay, with an additional two weeks for each year of service. The layoffs come at a time when Zuckerberg is reportedly dissatisfied with the company's AI progress, particularly following the lukewarm reception of Meta's Llama 4 models earlier this year. Since then, the company has stepped up its AI investments, including new infrastructure projects and leadership changes.