When I got hired at Meta in 2020, it was life-changing for me as a single mom. It represented safety and stability - a place to work hard at and retire from. So, when I was let go in February in a round of layoffs aimed at "low-performers," it felt like a punch in the gut. Nine months later, my severance and savings have run dry, I'm struggling to find a tech job, and I feel that the low-performer "label" is part of the reason.
Meta is cutting about 600 positions from its artificial intelligence division as part of a broader restructuring aimed at improving efficiency and accelerating progress toward next-generation AI systems. The changes come as the company continues hiring for its new TBD Lab, which focuses on advancing Meta's work in superintelligence. According to an internal memo obtained by Axios, Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the company's long-standing AI operations had become too bureaucratic. The restructuring, he wrote, will "reduce the number of conversations required to make decisions" and give each remaining team member "more scope and impact."
"As a result, we don't need as many roles in some areas as we once did," he wrote, without disclosing the number of affected roles. Protti said Meta is making the changes as it has invested in "building more global technical controls" over the past few years, and has made "significant progress" in its approach to risk management and compliance.
Meta's chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday that the company will cut about 600 jobs from its superintelligence lab, according to a report from Axios. Meta declined to comment, but told TechCrunch that Axios's reporting is accurate. As Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other companies race to build the most powerful AI systems, Meta had a busy summer on the hiring front.
