Meta, Facebook's parent company is laying off 600 employees in its Superintelligence Labs division, chief AI officer said in an internal memo. Alexandr Wang said the cuts would help the company to make decisions more quickly, reports Business Insider.
"By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the internal memo, adding that the affected employees had been notified. Meta didn't comment beyond the memo.
The layoffs in the Superintelligence Labs division comes months after Meta spent hundreds of millions of dollars hiring engineers and researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, and other companies.
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It's never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our Al effort. Anyone in North America whose role was impacted has already been notified. Those who may be impacted in EMEA have been notified and remain subject to consultation.
We are supporting the majority of those impacted in finding new roles at the company. We have spun up a tiger team of recruiters to help this group find the right match for their expertise and land in roles through an expedited hiring process.
This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading Al-native talent. Our goal is to enable MSL to move faster. We remain excited about the models we are training, our ambitious compute plans, and the products we are building, and I'm confident in our path to superintelligence.
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Employees learned before 7 a.m. on Wednesday whether they’d lose their jobs, Axios reported. According to CNBC, some laid-off staffers were told they’re in a “non-working notice period” until November 21 and that they could use the time to look for another role at Meta. Should they leave, they’ll be able to accept severance packages that provide at least 16 weeks of pay, CNBC reported.
The employees were told that “during this time, your internal access will be removed, and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta. You may use this time to search for another role at Meta.” To soften the blow of the layoff on the affected employees, they will be paid 16 weeks of severance and two weeks for every completed year in the company, “minus your notice period,” as per the memo.
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According to those familiar with the situation, many within Meta viewed the AI division as bloated, with research teams like FAIR frequently competing with more product-focused groups for computing resources. The decision to layoff over 600 employees has sparked anger on social media. People noted that even jobs in artificial intelligence are no longer safe. The decision to target legacy employees also contributed to the backlash.
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On Blind, an anonymous community for verified professionals, news of the layoffs sparked a conversation about job safety. “Imagine working at Meta for years for a few 100k and being told by people who joined few months ago getting paid millions that you are being laid off,” wrote one user.
“The billionaire forgets that people depend on job for food. They are not just spreadsheet rows,” wrote a Meta employee. One person suggested that the jobs might be outsourced. “In totally unrelated news, Meta found out there were 600 non-Chinese in the AI division a week ago,” the user wrote.
"By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact," Wang wrote in the internal memo, adding that the affected employees had been notified. Meta didn't comment beyond the memo.
The layoffs in the Superintelligence Labs division comes months after Meta spent hundreds of millions of dollars hiring engineers and researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, and other companies.
ALSO READ: Daniel Naroditsky’s mysterious death sparks outrage online: Why are fans blaming former chess champion Vladimir Kramnik? New details emerge
Read Wang's full memo below:
Earlier today, we made some changes to MSL to move us toward being the most agile and talent-dense team in the industry. By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact.It's never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our Al effort. Anyone in North America whose role was impacted has already been notified. Those who may be impacted in EMEA have been notified and remain subject to consultation.
We are supporting the majority of those impacted in finding new roles at the company. We have spun up a tiger team of recruiters to help this group find the right match for their expertise and land in roles through an expedited hiring process.
This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading Al-native talent. Our goal is to enable MSL to move faster. We remain excited about the models we are training, our ambitious compute plans, and the products we are building, and I'm confident in our path to superintelligence.
ALSO READ: Is Earth's second moon dangerous? The strange and mysterious case of 2025 PN7 explained
Why Meta is laying off 600 employees
The Menlo Park tech giant’s layoffs will hit three parts of its four-part AI unit, by cutting workers from its legacy AI research team and from product and infrastructure units focused on AI. Its small TBD Lab team, which is a new and high-profile group focused on cutting-edge AI models, will escape the job cuts, per Axios’ report.Employees learned before 7 a.m. on Wednesday whether they’d lose their jobs, Axios reported. According to CNBC, some laid-off staffers were told they’re in a “non-working notice period” until November 21 and that they could use the time to look for another role at Meta. Should they leave, they’ll be able to accept severance packages that provide at least 16 weeks of pay, CNBC reported.
The employees were told that “during this time, your internal access will be removed, and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta. You may use this time to search for another role at Meta.” To soften the blow of the layoff on the affected employees, they will be paid 16 weeks of severance and two weeks for every completed year in the company, “minus your notice period,” as per the memo.
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Will layoffs affect employees in TBD labs?
However, sources told CNBC that the layoffs will not impact employees in TBD Labs — a newer division led by Wang that houses many of the high-profile AI experts hired earlier this year. The unit was spared from the cuts, reflecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s confidence in his costly new hires over some of the company’s longer-tenured staff.According to those familiar with the situation, many within Meta viewed the AI division as bloated, with research teams like FAIR frequently competing with more product-focused groups for computing resources. The decision to layoff over 600 employees has sparked anger on social media. People noted that even jobs in artificial intelligence are no longer safe. The decision to target legacy employees also contributed to the backlash.
ALSO READ: Zohran Mamdani takes a jibe at PM Modi while addressing Hindu-American voters on Diwali, says 'grew up with vision of pluralistic India'
On Blind, an anonymous community for verified professionals, news of the layoffs sparked a conversation about job safety. “Imagine working at Meta for years for a few 100k and being told by people who joined few months ago getting paid millions that you are being laid off,” wrote one user.
“The billionaire forgets that people depend on job for food. They are not just spreadsheet rows,” wrote a Meta employee. One person suggested that the jobs might be outsourced. “In totally unrelated news, Meta found out there were 600 non-Chinese in the AI division a week ago,” the user wrote.
