Meta to lay off 600 employees from ‘sluggish’ AI unit
Nearly 600 employees in Meta Platforms’ artificial intelligence division will be laid off as part of a broader effort to speed up decision-making and streamline operations.
Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang, who joined the company in June following Meta’s US$14.3 billion ($22 billion) investment in Scale AI, announced the layoffs in a note confirmed by a Meta spokesperson.
The recently established TBD Lab will not be affected, but the cuts will affect employees in Meta’s AI infrastructure, Fundamental AI Research, and product-focused divisions.
U.S. employees were notified Wednesday that their layoffs were scheduled for Nov. 21.
In addition to the 16 weeks of severance pay, Meta will provide an additional two weeks for each year of service. Affected employees have been asked to apply for other internal positions, the company said.
According to reports, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has become impatient with Meta’s slow AI developments after the conflicting response to the Llama 4 models.
According to Wang, the restructuring aims to make the AI team “more agile” by eliminating bureaucracy and facilitating faster decision-making.
Despite layoffs, Meta continues to make significant investments in artificial intelligence; this includes the recent $27 billion deal with Blue Owl Capital to finance the Hyperion data center in Louisiana.
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