Meta plans to lay off about 8,000 employees — approximately 10% of its workforce. This decision is related to the increasing costs of developing artificial intelligence technologies.
Employees were informed about the upcoming layoffs on Thursday. Furthermore, the company will also forego filling several thousand previously planned vacancies, according to the BBC’s Russian Service.
The primary reason for the layoffs is reprotedly the large-scale investments in AI: this year, Meta intends to allocate about 135 billion dollars for these purposes — an amount comparable to its spending on artificial intelligence over the previous three years.
A company representative confirmed the plans for staff reductions but declined to provide additional comments.
Earlier, in January, Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted at a new wave of layoffs.
He noted that the implementation of AI significantly increases employee productivity: now, one specialist can perform tasks that previously required an entire team.
According to him, the year 2026 could be a turning point when artificial intelligence will significantly change work principles.
Since the beginning of the year, the company has already conducted two waves of layoffs, dismissing about 2,000 people. Meanwhile, according to media reports, employees have been expecting more significant changes in the workforce over the past few weeks.
