Meta will cut 8,000 jobs starting May 20, roughly 10% of its workforce, with more layoffs possible later this year. The cuts come as CEO Mark Zuckerberg funnels $135 billion into AI development to keep pace with competitors like OpenAI. Reuters first reported the planned reductions. Meta had nearly 79,000 employees as of December 31.
This is Meta's biggest round of cuts since the "year of efficiency" that eliminated over 20,000 positions in 2022 and 2023. What's different now is the explicit AI angle. Zuckerberg has been weaving AI tools into every corner of Meta's business, even building a 'photorealistic' 3D clone of himself to communicate with employees, according to reports.
Meta isn't alone. Snap cut 1,000 jobs this week, with CEO Evan Spiegel saying AI would "enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers." Block CEO Jack Dorsey eliminated 40% of his workforce and wrote that "the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes" within a year. Amazon axed 30,000 corporate jobs last fall while leaning into AI.
Sources told Reuters that Meta's additional cuts later this year could depend on how the company's AI capabilities develop. When your layoff plans are contingent on how good your AI gets, the writing on the wall gets pretty easy to read.