Meta to Cut 600 Jobs from AI Division in Bid to Boost Innovation
Meta Platforms is making another bold move in its ongoing push to dominate the artificial intelligence sector.
Around 600 employees from its AI operations are set to lose their jobs as part of a sweeping reorganization designed to streamline internal processes and quicken the company’s innovation pace.
The decision, revealed in an internal memo, marks one of the most significant restructures within Meta’s AI teams to date.
Insiders say the move is aimed at cutting through layers of management that have bogged down progress.
“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,” wrote Meta’s Chief AI Officer, Alexandr Wang.
Wang, who assumed leadership earlier this year following Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, has been tasked with revamping the company’s approach to artificial intelligence. His goal? Smaller, sharper, faster teams.
The cuts will not touch TBD Labs, Meta’s highly anticipated research arm focused on advanced AI and experimental projects. This division is expected to spearhead the company’s most ambitious ventures in the coming years.
Analysts suggest the restructure also strengthens Wang’s leadership grip while bringing the AI strategy closer in line with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-term ambitions.
Zuckerberg has made no secret of his growing impatience with the pace of AI development. Following a muted response to the LLaMA 4 language model earlier this year, the Meta boss has been doubling down on efforts to speed up progress.
In response, the company unveiled the Meta Superintelligence Labs, co-led by Wang and former GitHub chief Nat Friedman.
The new elite team has one mission: to drive breakthroughs in artificial general intelligence (AGI) and ensure Meta stays in the race with rivals OpenAI and Google DeepMind.
Despite the job cuts, Meta’s spending on AI is only going one way, up. During the Q2 2025 earnings call, the company forecast total expenses between $114 billion and $118 billion for next year, with AI infrastructure named as a top priority.
Executives hinted that 2026 could bring even higher costs as AI projects scale further.
And the spending doesn’t stop there. Meta recently signed a $27 billion deal with Blue Owl Capital to develop the Hyperion Data Center in rural Louisiana, an enormous site expected to rank among the world’s largest data facilities.
Zuckerberg described the forthcoming center as being “large enough to cover a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan,” underscoring just how ambitious Meta’s AI roadmap has become.
The tech giant is due to announce its third-quarter results next week, and analysts are keen to see how these structural changes and high-stakes investments will reshape the company’s AI future.
While layoffs are never easy, Meta’s leadership appears convinced that a leaner team will mean faster progress, and, ultimately, smarter innovation.
