Meta cuts about 700 jobs as it shifts spending to AI

Summary

Meta has begun laying off employees as it focuses more of its cash on building out datacenters, training its own large language models, and recruiting talent for AI. A person familiar with the cuts told The Register they would number about 700. According to The Information, the job losses will fall hardest on Meta’s Reality Labs, its social media division, and recruitment. “After 6 years at Meta, my role was impacted by the recent reduction in force today,” wrote a woman who worked as a senior recruiter with Meta until this morning in a LinkedIn post. “This one is especially tough. After returning as a short-term employee in 2024, I was grateful to receive a full-time offer again last year and I’m incredibly proud of what I was able to accomplish during that time. The gratitude I feel far outweighs the disappointment.” In a statement to The Register, Meta said this reduction in force is about streamlining the business to work more effectively with AI as laid out by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during earnings reports in January. “Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals. Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted,” a spokesperson wrote. In a post-earnings note on January 28, Zuckerberg said this was the year Meta would begin “flattening teams.” “We're elevating individual contributors, and flattening teams. We're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he wrote. “I want to make sure as many of these very talented people as possible choose Meta as the place they can make the greatest impact – to deliver personalized products to billions of people around the world. And if we do this, then I think we'll get a lot more done and it's going to be a lot more fun.” Reuters reported recently that Meta plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce – some 15,000 employees – but ...