Meta Lays Off Thousands, Relocates More Due to AI Initiatives

Meta plans to lay off 10% of its workforce and transfer a further 7,000 workers to new “AI initiatives,” the company revealed in an internal memo. Reportedly, additional cuts are expected to occur later this year.

As per the memo, many managerial roles will be eliminated and extensive “org changes” will take place. In total, 20% of the entire Meta workforce will be affected by either cuts or transfers, as the company bids to place AI agents at the center of its products and ways of working.

Across the industry, AI-related job losses are spiraling, with many businesses looking to reduce headcount and prioritize AI investment to keep pace in a changing landscape. This is in spite of recent research that suggests that laying off staff in favor of automation is failing to yield substantial financial returns.

Meta Plans Widespread Layoffs and AI-Linked Restructure

Meta has notified employees that 10% of the total workforce is set to be laid off — while a further 7,000 individuals will be relocated to new “AI initiatives,” as the company embarks on a far-reaching restructure.

As part of the move, several managerial roles will be eliminated, widespread “org changes” will be enacted, and additional cuts will likely occur later in the year.

In total, as many as 20% of all Meta employees will be affected by the layoffs. The moves form part of a wider effort to place AI at the center of both Meta products and ways of working, in keeping with similar activity across the tech sector.

According to Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale:

“As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures. We’re not at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams or pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership.”

Meta Moves to Embed AI at Its Core

Meta is conducting a widespread overhaul, with substantial investment in AI as a core tenet of its plan. In January this year, the company let go of 10% of its Reality Labs employees, the division that looks after virtual and augmented reality hardware, with sources at the time confirming that it planned to “reprioritize its investments.”

Reportedly, employees who are being transferred will end up at initiatives including Applied AI Engineering (AAI) and Agent Transformation Accelerator (ATA). Both are focused on developing new AI agents that can autonomously execute tasks that are currently done by humans.

Unsurprisingly, the news was not warmly greeted by current Meta staff, who have protested it with flyers and angry posts on the company’s internal communications platform, Workplace. 1,000 employees have signed a petition pushing back against the use of “mouse-tracking software,” which can train AI models to replicate how humans use computers.

Job Losses Mount as Companies Bet Big on AI

Increasingly, stories like this are becoming a staple of the modern business landscape. With research indicating that 80% of businesses using AI have already reduced headcount, the trend is set to continue — despite findings that suggest the results are, so far, failing to yield substantial returns.

While AI is certainly a compelling tool, businesses should be mindful that adopting new technology opens up new attack vectors for cybercriminals. Recently, Vercel was hacked via a third-party AI tool that it was using, with keys and source code thought to have been compromised.

Rather than blindly deploying AI tools for the sake of it, companies should always carefully consider their implementation strategies, including establishing rigid guardrails to ensure that potential mishaps are minimized. As a part of this, senior leaders should upskill their employees on how to safely use AI tools.