Meta has eliminated 600 positions in its artificial intelligence division, US media reported. The company confirmed the layoffs on Wednesday while continuing to recruit new employees for its superintelligence lab.
Axios revealed the cuts will hit Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team, product-focused AI, and AI infrastructure divisions. The newer TBD Lab will remain unaffected.
Employees Urged to Seek Internal Roles
Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang informed staff about the changes in a memo, encouraging affected workers to apply for other roles within Meta. Axios noted that most displaced employees are likely to secure new positions inside the company.
Wang explained that a smaller team would speed up decision-making and increase individual responsibility. Each remaining employee would carry more influence and handle greater responsibilities, he wrote in the memo.
Meta Expands Its AI Vision
The California-based company continues hiring for TBD Lab, which develops Meta’s latest large language models (LLMs). These models power tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s own Llama.
Meta has chosen a distinct AI strategy compared to competitors. It released its Llama system as a semi-open source platform, allowing users to adapt and modify key components. Meta claims over one billion people use its AI tools each month, though analysts believe it trails OpenAI and Google in driving everyday consumer adoption of LLM technology.
