According to a Bloomberg article, Meta has started informing thousands of workers worldwide about new layoffs as part of a reorganization initiative meant to reduce expenses while significantly increasing expenditures in artificial intelligence.
Employees in Singapore, one of Meta’s major Asian centers, began receiving notifications at around 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday. According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News, employees in the US and Europe are anticipated to be notified during their respective mornings. As the process progresses, employees have been encouraged to work from home.
Engineering and Product Teams Face Major Impact
According to those familiar with the situation, the current round is predicted to cut about 8,000 positions globally, with engineering and product teams taking the brunt. Later in the year, as the restructuring progresses, there may be more cuts. Separately, the business announced earlier this week that about 7,000 people have been moved to newly established teams that are concentrated on AI agents and products.
Prior to the reassignments and layoffs, Meta employed slightly fewer than 80,000 people at the end of March. The redesign coincides with the social media behemoth’s commitment to invest over $100 billion this year in expanding its AI skills and infrastructure.
Meta Focuses Heavily on Artificial Intelligence Expansion
“Many organizations can now function with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods or cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership,” stated Janelle Gale, head of people at Meta, in the memo. She went on to say that the modifications are intended to increase output and make work more fulfilling.
In an effort to keep up with competitors like Google and OpenAI, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has designated AI the company’s top strategic objective. Several rounds of layoffs in recent years as the business pursues what Zuckerberg has called improved efficiency, have changed Meta’s employment strategy.
Additionally, he has personally worked on AI tools to support various CEO activities and urged engineers to rely more on AI agents for coding and other tasks.
Employee Concerns Grow Amid Rapid Changes
Some of Meta’s employees are uneasy about the quick adjustments. An internal petition signed by over a thousand workers requests that the firm refrain from gathering specific data from their devices, such as keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen content, for AI training. Concerns about declining morale and ongoing worry about job security have been expressed by others on social media.
