Meta will cut 10% of workforce as it pushes more into AI

The social media giant will initiate the job cuts on May 20, and is scrapping plans to hire people for 6,000 open roles, according to a Thursday memo to employees that Bloomberg News first reported on.

Meta’s latest planned round of layoffs follow several smaller job reductions that the company has characterized as necessary to improve efficiency while focusing its efforts on generative AI where it faces tough competition from rivals like OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.

The tech giant fired roughly 10% of staff who focus on metaverse-related virtual reality projects stemming from its Reality Labs unit, CNBC reported in January. Roughly 1,000 people in the company’s Reality Labs unit were let go at that time, and affected staff working on the company’s Quest-branded VR headsets, VR content studios and the Horizon Worlds virtual social network. 

Another round of layoffs commenced in March and affected hundreds of employees working in a variety of units, including Facebook, Reality Labs, global operations and sales. Meta also said that month that it would shift away from third-party vendors and contractors, which have historically handled content moderation tasks, in favor of relying on various AI technologies.

Meta shares are down about 2.4% in midday trading to $658.40.

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