Meta Cuts 600 Jobs in the AI Shift, Keeping Top Talent
Meta is planning to cut the number of staff working in its artificial intelligence section by around 600. This move is taking place as part of a larger push to streamline operations and minimize the number of organizational levels. Alexandr Wang who joined the business in June of this year as part of its $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, was the one who communicated the decision to the executives in a memo. The layoffs will have an effect on staff across all of Meta’s artificial intelligence infrastructure teams, including the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit, as well as a variety of product positions connected to autonomous intelligence. The layoffs will not have an impact on the staff working at TBD Labs, which is home to a big number of high-profile artificial intelligence hires from Meta who are focusing on massive language models. The fact that these employees were exempted while Wang was in charge exemplifies the continued confidence that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has in the company’s recent, expensive acquisitions rather than in certain long-standing personnel for the company.
Within Meta, the artificial intelligence section was said to have gotten “bloated,” with FAIR and product-focused teams competing for computing resources, according to sources. This comprehensive artificial intelligence framework was taken on by the recently founded Superintelligence Labs, which was led by Wang. The redundancy will be eliminated, and Wang’s control over Meta’s AI approach will be strengthened as a result of the layoffs. In order to keep its competitive edge over competitors like OpenAI and Google, Meta has been increasing the number of artificial intelligence projects it is working on. Several billions of dollars have been allocated by the corporation to the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure as well as the recruiting of top talent. Due to the fact that the layoffs were implemented, the current number of employees at Superintelligence Labs is slightly less than 3,000.
The employees who are having their employment terminated have been advised that their termination date is scheduled for November 21 and that they are currently in a “non-working notice period.” It was indicated in the message that during this period of time, internal access would be terminated, and employees would not be required to perform any additional work for Meta. It is possible that they will use this time to look for another position at Meta. In addition to paying 16 weeks of severance compensation, Meta is also providing two additional weeks of bonus pay for every year of employment that has been completed, “minus your notice period.” As a result of the introduction of Llama 4 models in April, which was met with a lackluster response from developers, Zuckerberg’s displeasure with the advances that Meta’s artificial intelligence has made increased. The establishment of Meta Superintelligence Labs, which is directed by Wang and Nat Friedman was announced by him in order to speed up the process of progress.
The overall expenses for the year 2025 were predicted by Meta to be between $114 billion and $118 billion in July. This estimate was based on the anticipation of extra growth brought about by AI projects. Zuckerberg stated that the Hyperion data center in rural Louisiana will be huge enough to occupy a “significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.” On Tuesday, Meta completed a $27 billion agreement with Blue Owl Capital to finance the Hyperion data center.
