Meta Lays Off 600 AI Workers in Major Department Restructuring

Meta is laying off 600 employees from its AI Superintelligence Labs, including members of the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit and AI product and infrastructure divisions, as part of a restructuring effort to streamline the department and increase agility. These layoffs target longer-serving staff, while a newer division, TBD Labs, consisting of high-profile AI experts hired recently, remains unaffected, highlighting CEO Mark Zuckerberg's confidence in the newer recruits. Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, emphasized that the layoffs aim to reduce bureaucracy and increase individual responsibility, while assuring support for affected employees through internal job placement efforts. Despite these cuts, Meta plans to continue investing heavily in AI by hiring industry-leading talent to accelerate AI product development and progress toward superintelligence. The layoffs have sparked backlash on social media, with criticism focused on the job insecurity even within AI roles and the targeting of legacy employees. Meta's restructuring follows the company's ongoing mission to enhance its AI capabilities, especially after the lukewarm reception to its Llama 4 language models earlier this year.