Meta Layoffs: 600 Employees Affected As Focus Shifts To New AI Lab

Meta has announced another round of job cuts – this time within its artificial intelligence division. The company is reportedly letting go of around 600 employees as part of a wider reorganisation. While the number may sound big, this move is more about restructuring than downsizing. Also Read: Samsung’s First AI Glasses To Be Made In Collaboration With Gentle Monster And Warby Parker

According to reports, the layoffs are happening across Meta’s long-standing FAIR AI research team and other AI infrastructure groups. Employees in the U.S. were expected to receive notifications earlier this week. Meta has said that many affected workers will have the option to apply for other internal roles. Also Read: Instagram Launches Limited-Edition Diwali Filters: Here’s How To Use Them

Why Meta Is Making These Changes

In an internal memo, Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang explained that the goal is to create a leaner, faster-moving team. He noted that by trimming down the size of the department, decisions can be made quickly, and each member will have more impact. Also Read: Meta AI Adds UPI Lite, Hindi Support, and Deepika Padukone’s Voice to Ray-Ban Glasses in India

This aligns with Meta’s ongoing “year of efficiency,” a term Mark Zuckerberg used last year to describe the company’s strategy of cutting bureaucracy and focusing on productivity. In short, Meta wants smaller, more efficient teams that can move faster in a highly competitive AI space.

Focus On AI?

Interestingly, while some teams are shrinking, Meta is hiring aggressively for its newly formed TBD Lab. The lab is central to Meta’s next phase of AI research and innovation. It’s where the company wants to build more advanced models – possibly its take on artificial general intelligence.

Meta has also been quietly pulling in some big names from the AI world – including a few former researchers from OpenAI. But this isn’t just another cost-cutting move. The company says it’s more about reorganising its efforts and putting its energy where it really matters – on its most promising AI projects.

For now, these layoffs don’t signal a slowdown. Instead, they show where Meta’s focus is headed next. With rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all racing ahead, Meta seems to be walking that fine line between staying lean and staying ambitious.