Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale announced the layoffs in a memo. In the memo, the company told employees that it plans to move 7,000 employees into new AI workflows initiatives and eliminate managerial roles.
On Monday, Meta shared a memo outlining its plans for layoffs on May 20, saying cuts to its workforce globally would be accompanied by a fresh round of organisational changes aimed at improving the company's AI workflows.
Back in March, Zuckerberg addressed employees and said that the investment in AI requires a lump sum, and that he didn't have any other option besides layoffs, saying his hands were tied.
The decision was made in the past month, as a period of time given to employees to seek job opportunities at other companies.
Mark Zuckerberg decided to lay off nearly 8000 employees, or 10%, on Wednesday, with additional deep cuts expected this year as an action to run more efficiently and fund other investments, including AI.
In a memo to employees, Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale said the company plans to move 8000 employees into new AI workflows initiatives and eliminate managerial roles.
Impact of the Layoffs
The layoffs reflect a larger trend of job reductions related to AI at major US companies this year, especially within the tech industry. Approximately 20% of the company's workforce will be affected by the layoffs and transfers. While some transfers have already taken place, others will be communicated to employees on Wednesday, as Gale mentioned in her memo.
Employees in North America were instructed to work from home that day. Additionally, Meta has eliminated another 6,000 open positions as part of this process, as she informed employees in a previous memo. According to company filings, the number of employees at the social media giant stood at 77,986 at the end of March.
The employers were unhappy upon hearing this and were struggling to handle the pressure. The company has already installed the spyware AI to connect with the computer by observing the patterns and conversations that employees have with it. Most employees were opposed to this idea.
Besides, employees working on frontier AI research, particularly those in the TBD Lab, have been largely shielded from the chaos. And some workers say there is genuine excitement about what AI could mean for the company's future.
But some employees were deeply affected by the news from the companies, including layoffs on Wednesday, which left everyone in a miserable state. As a gesture of opposition, they shared their frustration, grief and anger in their official handles.
