In recent weeks, Meta employees have experienced days of great uncertainty. In April, it was announced that 8,000 workers, around 10 percent of the total workforce, would be laid off starting May 20 as part of a restructuring to prioritize artificial intelligence.
On Monday, it was revealed that another 7,000 employees would be reassigned to AI projects, and notifications began on Wednesday. The layoffs started in Singapore in the early morning and then spread to other countries according to their local times.
Many workers began checking the internal directory to see who from their teams was left out. In the company forums, hundreds reacted with salad emojis, an internal way to show solidarity.
Reactions and Internal Climate
Mark Zuckerberg, in an internal memo, thanked the work of those laid off and expressed optimism about the future of AI. He stated that no further layoffs are expected this year and emphasized that "AI is the technology with the most consequences in our lives."
Before the cuts, employees in New York gathered to "commiserate or celebrate." More than 1,000 signed a petition against data tracking, and critical internal posts received hundreds of reactions.
The Big Bet on Superintelligence
Zuckerberg wants to create a "superintelligence" that functions as the ultimate personal assistant. Meta plans to invest between $125 billion and $145 billion this year, more than double that in 2025, with a large portion allocated to AI.
The transformation from a social media company to one focused on AI is generating anger and anxiety among the nearly 78,000 workers. A software engineer, Mack Ward, posted a message calling for "hitting the brakes" and thinking about how society wants to move forward with this technology, which received over 2,000 likes.
Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer, acknowledged in a meeting that there is "a tremendous number of employees who feel anxiety about their future" and did not sugarcoat it: "Everything is bad."
The company is looking to retain key talent by offering extra stock packages, such as $500,000 in one reported case, although some have rejected the offers. Those laid off receive 16 weeks of severance plus two for each year worked.
New Teams and Priorities
Meta has begun to assemble a new Applied Engineering and AI team with about 2,000 employees, led by Maher Saba. Those who join will be protected from current layoffs. The group will use data from the tracking program to create AI tools and will have fewer hierarchical levels.
In an email to executives, the company emphasized that this is "a high-priority initiative, coming directly from Mark" and that participation is not optional.
This move adds to similar announcements from other firms like Cisco, Microsoft, Block, and Coinbase, which are also adjusting their workforces to allocate more resources to artificial intelligence.
