Facebook parent Meta plans to cut a large number of jobs to cover the cost of investing in artificial intelligence or AI infrastructure and to improve efficiency. According to the news agency Reuters, if this decision is implemented, 20 percent or more of the total employees of the company may lose their jobs.
A final date or exact number of layoffs has not yet been determined, Reuters reported, citing internal sources. But top executives have already asked senior executives to begin cost-cutting plans. Meta spokesman Andy Stone, however, called the matter a ‘fictitious report based on a theoretical perspective’.
If the decision to cut 20 percent goes through, it would be the largest restructuring at Metro since the ‘years of efficiency’ of 2022 and 2023. As of December 31 last year, Meta’s total workforce was around 79,000. Earlier in November 2022, the company laid off 11,000 workers and another 10,000 workers four months later.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to keep up with the generative AI race for the past year. Meta has announced a multibillion-dollar pay package to lure top AI researchers. Apart from this, the company has plans to invest 600 billion dollars to build data centers by 2028.
Recently Meta bought ‘Moltbook’, a social networking platform for AI agents, and is spending $2 billion to buy Chinese AI startup ‘Manus’.
Zuckerberg pointed out that the use of AI is now making it possible for a skilled person to do many jobs. This trend is seen not only in Meta, but also in big US tech companies like Amazon and Block. Amazon has already announced 16,000 layoffs and fintech company Block has laid off half its workforce.
Last year, Mater faced several setbacks with its ‘Lama 4’ model. Especially the big model called ‘Behemoth’ has to be canceled in the market. Currently, the Mater superintelligence team is working on a new model called ‘Avocado’, but its performance is also not as expected, according to various media reports.
