Meta sacrifices a quarter of its employees... a massive layoff to offset the costs of artificial intelligence

 

Meta

Meta sacrifices a quarter of its employees... a massive layoff to offset the costs of artificial intelligence

Meta (Facebook's owner) plans to lay off a large number of its employees, potentially as much as 20% or more, as it seeks to offset its costly investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and prepare for the increased efficiency that working with the help of artificial intelligence will enable.

Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the timing of the layoffs has not yet been determined, nor has the number of employees to be affected been finalized.

Two sources, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, indicated that senior Meta executives recently briefed other senior management officials on the matter and asked them to start planning how to reduce staffing levels.
"This is a report based on speculation about theoretical concepts," said Meta spokesman Andy Stone in response to questions about the plan.

Meta strikes a deal with AMD to buy $100 billion worth of AI chips

If Meta settles at 20%, this layoff will be the largest in the company’s history since the restructuring it undertook in late 2022 and early 2023, which it called the “Year of Efficiency”.
The company had approximately 79,000 employees as of December 31, according to its most recent disclosure.

In November 2022, the company laid off 11,000 employees, representing 13% of its workforce at the time. About four months later, it announced further layoffs of 10,000 employees.
Over the past year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been urging the company to strengthen its competitive edge in generative artificial intelligence.

The company offered huge salary packages, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years, to attract the best artificial intelligence researchers to join its new superintelligence team.
The company announced plans to invest $600 billion to build data centers by 2028.

Huge investments in artificial intelligence

Days earlier, Meta acquired Multbook, a social networking platform designed specifically for AI models and systems. Meta is also investing at least $2 billion to acquire Manus, a Chinese AI startup, according to a previous Reuters report.
Zuckerberg hinted at efficiency gains resulting from these investments, saying in January that he was beginning to see "projects that used to require large teams now being done by one very talented person."

Meta's plans reflect a broader trend among major US companies, particularly in the technology sector, this year. Executives have cited recent advancements in artificial intelligence systems as one reason for this shift.