Top line
Meta to lay off around 600 employees at its superintelligence labs, according to multiple reports citing an internal memo from the company’s AI leader.
The layoffs would reportedly not impact the company’s division developing next-generation AI models.
AFP via Getty Images
Key facts
The reductions, first reported by Axioswould target certain divisions of the company’s superintelligence labs, including employees at its FAIR AI Research Lab, its AI Products Division, and its AI Infrastructure Division.
They will not impact Meta’s TBD Lab, its new unit charged with creating the company’s next generation of large language models.
Meta’s AI chief, Alexandr Wang, called the layoffs a restructuring move, insisting that the cuts would mean “fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will carry more weight and have more reach and impact,” according to the memo.
The memo says employees will know their employment status by Wednesday morning and encourages them to apply for other jobs at Meta.
Meta’s stock fell slightly after the layoffs were announced, but its drop of about 0.6% as of early Wednesday afternoon was not as sharp as that of the major indexes.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Key context
The layoffs come just months after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a multibillion-dollar effort to ramp up the social media company’s AI efforts, which he announcement in June would be managed by a “superintelligence laboratory”. The same month, Meta announced a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, the company Wang co-founded, and recruited him to lead its AI division. The company has also spent billions recruiting more AI researchers from competitors like OpenAI.
