Meta laid off 8,000 workers today, or 10% of its workforce, as the social media giant gears up to compete in the AI era.
“Success isn’t a given. A.I. is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an internal memo, according to The New York Times. “The companies that lead the way will define the next generation.”
In addition, Meta’s head of human resources, Janelle Gale, said the company would be reassigning 7,000 workers to four new AI-focused organizations designed with “AI-native” structures and fewer layers of management. The changes are intended to make the company more productive as it pours resources into AI development.
Meta also previously said it would not fill 6,000 job vacancies as part of broader efficiency efforts.
Zuckerberg has made AI a top priority as Meta races against rivals including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. In January, Zuckerberg told investors Meta planned to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion this year, much of it tied to AI infrastructure and data centers.
The company has simultaneously scaled back parts of its metaverse ambitions while increasingly integrating AI usage into employee performance reviews. Meta employees have also raised concerns over new policies involving the use of employee data to train AI systems.
The moves reflect a broader trend across the tech industry as companies restructure workforces around AI development. Recent layoffs and reorganizations tied to AI initiatives have also been announced by Cisco, Microsoft, Block and Coinbase.