Meta cuts 8,000 jobs and shifts 7,000 workers to new AI teams

On May 20, Meta announced a layoff of roughly 8,000 employees, about 10% of its global workforce. The cuts were communicated after HR asked staff to work from home, leaving many offices empty as notifications were sent across time zones.

At the same time, Meta transferred about 7,000 employees to newly created artificial‑intelligence initiatives. Those workers were assigned to the Applied AI (AAI) team and other groups focused on AI agents, data labeling and model training, under the direction of Vice President of Engineering Maher Saba and Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang. An internal email said the move “reflects your influence” and was presented as a non‑negotiable redeployment.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg framed the layoffs as a reallocation of resources to accelerate Meta’s AI investments and said no further mass layoffs were planned for the year. The restructuring aims to make the company more agile and to close the gap with competitors such as OpenAI and Google. Employees reacted with a mix of relief, fear and confusion, and some expressed dissent through internal forums and leaflets.