SAN FRANCISCO: US technology giant Meta will lay off around 600 employees from its artificial intelligence (AI) division, according to a report by CNBC on Wednesday, marking one of the company’s most significant cuts in its AI-focused operations since launching its ambitious expansion drive earlier this year.
The layoffs were disclosed in an internal memo from Alexandr Wang, Meta’s Chief AI Officer, who joined the company in June as part of Meta’s $14.3 billion partnership investment in Scale AI, the San Francisco-based data infrastructure company.
According to the memo, the job cuts will primarily affect staff within Meta’s AI infrastructure teams, the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) division, and several product-oriented AI roles across the company.
On Wednesday, affected employees were informed that their employment would officially end on November 21, though they would immediately be placed under a “non-working notice period,” reports Anadolu.
“During this time, your internal access will be removed, and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta,” the company reportedly wrote in its notice, adding that impacted employees could “use this time to search for another role at Meta.”
The company also announced a severance package including 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of completed service, adjusted for the notice period.
Meta’s latest move underscores CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ongoing cost-cutting strategy, which began with a series of layoffs in 2023 that eliminated more than 21,000 positions company-wide. The firm said those steps were aimed at creating a “leaner, more efficient organization” capable of prioritizing high-impact technologies such as AI, the metaverse, and mixed-reality hardware.
While Meta continues to emphasize its long-term vision for AI integration across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the cuts suggest growing internal pressure to streamline operations and consolidate teams amid the escalating competition in the global AI race.
The decision comes as other major tech firms — including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft — also realign their AI divisions to balance aggressive innovation with cost efficiency.
