Meta to lay off 8,000 workers to offset AI spending, improve efficiency

MANILA, Philippines – Meta Platforms announced on Thursday, April 23, it was laying off 8.000 workers, or about 10% of the company, on May 20.

According to Bloomberg News, the information was based on an internal memo and was later confirmed by a Meta spokesperson. The memo also noted that Meta will not be filling 6,000 open roles it had originally intended to fill.

Meta’s chief people officer Janelle Gale wrote in the memo that the company was doing cuts “as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.”

“This is not an easy tradeoff and it will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here,” Gale added.

Meta in January announced it was boosting capital spending plans for this year by 73% — up to $135 billion — to pursue “superintelligence,” an effort to offer deeply personalized artificial intelligence to its large social media user base.

Meta is not alone in this measure. Amazon, Snap, and other tech companies have made workforce reductions to offset AI-related spending. – Rappler.com