Meta Laying Off 600 AI Workers

Benzinga

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) just announced layoffs impacting roughly 600 employees across its AI divisions — including teams working on infrastructure and Fundamental AI Research. The move comes just months after Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI and brought on its CEO, Alexandr Wang, as Meta’s new Chief AI Officer.  In a memo obtained by CNBC, affected employees were told they’ll receive 16 weeks of severance pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service. This comes amid CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s frustration with the company’s AI progress — especially after the Llama 4 models underwhelmed developers earlier this year.  Now, Meta is restructuring under a new unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs, co-led by Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, as it races to compete with OpenAI and Google in the global AI arms race.  Meanwhile, Meta is also investing heavily in its Hyperion data center project in Louisiana — a $27 billion infrastructure build that could cover a footprint as large as Manhattan.  Will these layoffs help Meta move faster, or signal deeper trouble inside Zuckerberg’s AI ambitions?

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00:00This might sound unbelievable, but Meta just laid off hundreds of AI employees right after

00:05spending billions on artificial intelligence. Roughly 600 employees were cut from Meta's AI

00:10unit this week. These weren't random layoffs, they came directly from divisions building Meta's

00:15next-generation AI infrastructure. And even from its fundamental AI research team, the memo came

00:21from Alexander Wang, Meta's new chief AI officer. The same one hired in June after Meta invested

00:27$14.3 billion into his company, Scale AI. Employees were told that their access was removed immediately

00:34and that they'd get 16 weeks of severance, plus two weeks for every year worked. Zuckerberg has

00:39seemed frustrated with Meta AI's progress, especially after the Llama 4 launch underperformed

00:44with developers. Now the company's pivoting to its new super-intelligent labs, led by Wang and

00:49former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, while doubling down on projects like its $27 billion Hyperion

00:55data center in Louisiana. Meta says it's cutting layers to move faster, but these layoffs raise

01:00a big question. Can you really streamline AI without cutting into your future?

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