Meta has dismissed 600 workers from its artificial intelligence division, US media reported on Wednesday. The company confirmed the layoffs even as it continues recruiting for its superintelligence research lab.
FAIR and Product AI Teams Hit
Axios revealed the layoffs will hit Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) group, product-related AI teams, and AI infrastructure units. The newer TBD Lab team will remain unaffected. Axios cited a memo from Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who urged affected employees to apply for other roles within Meta. The company expects most to secure new positions internally.
Wang Explains Streamlining Plan
Wang stated in the memo that smaller teams allow faster decisions and greater individual impact. He emphasized that each remaining employee will carry more responsibility and influence. Meanwhile, Meta continues hiring for the TBD Lab, which develops its latest large language models (LLMs). These models power systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s own Llama.
Meta has pursued a distinct AI strategy from its competitors, offering its Llama system as a semi-open source product that users can adapt and modify. The company claims over one billion people use its AI tools monthly, yet analysts still view Meta as trailing OpenAI and Google in consumer adoption of LLMs.
