Meta layoffs and snack budget hike as X poaches its engineers

Meta announced the elimination of about 8,000 jobs and expanded computer‑activity monitoring to train its own AI models, prompting internal morale reports that "the vibes are off." In response, CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth said the company will increase travel, events and snack budgets to improve employee sentiment.

At the same time, Elon Musk's X (operating under xAI) launched a recruitment campaign targeting Meta engineers, promising to "match or exceed any snack budget" and offering salaries between $180,000 and $440,000 for web, data and research engineers. X’s product lead Nikita Bier highlighted the effort on X’s platform, framing it as a "snack war" to attract high‑level AI talent.

Both moves reflect an escalating talent battle in the AI sector, with Meta trying to retain staff through higher perks while X seeks to lure engineers away with generous compensation and a focus on workplace culture.