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Meta will cut 10% of workforce as company pushes deeper into AI

Meta will cut 10% of workforce as company pushes deeper into AI

Tech ai cnbc.com
Meta is laying off 10% of its workforce as it shifts resources toward generative AI, where it trails competitors like OpenAI and Google.
What: Meta will eliminate approximately 8,000 employees starting May 20 and cancel 6,000 open positions, the latest in a series of layoffs as the company pivots from metaverse projects toward AI development.
Why it matters: The restructuring reflects Meta's urgency to catch up in generative AI after falling behind OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, part of a broader tech industry trend of cutting traditional roles while investing heavily in AI capabilities.
Deep dive
  • Meta plans to eliminate approximately 8,000 positions (10% of workforce) beginning May 20, plus 6,000 unfilled roles
  • The layoffs follow previous cuts in January (10% of metaverse workers, roughly 1,000 in Reality Labs) and March (hundreds across multiple units)
  • Meta explicitly cites the need to improve efficiency while focusing on generative AI, where it acknowledges lagging behind OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic
  • The company is shifting content moderation from third-party contractors to AI systems, eliminating another traditional workforce category
  • Meta's workforce has declined from 86,482 in late 2022 to 78,865 as of December 31, reversing pandemic-era hiring spree
  • The cuts are part of a broader tech industry pattern: Microsoft offering voluntary buyouts to 7% of US employees, Amazon cutting 16,000 jobs in January
  • Meta recently debuted its first major AI model since hiring Scale AI's Alexandr Wang, signaling renewed commitment to AI development
  • The company revealed it's using employee tracking software called Model Capability Initiative that captures keystrokes and mouse clicks to train AI agents
  • Meta shares fell 2.4% on the news and are roughly flat for the year
Original article

Meta plans to lay off around 8,000 employees beginning on May 20. The company says the job reductions are necessary to improve efficiency as it focuses its efforts on generative AI. Meta's annual report in January indicated that it had a global workforce of 78,865 employees as of December 31. Job cuts are picking up across the tech sector due to the AI boom.

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