Meta considers major layoffs as AI investment costs rise

Meta is planning sweeping job cuts that could affect 20 percent or more of its workforce as the company seeks to offset the growing costs of artificial intelligence infrastructure and improve efficiency through AI-assisted work, according to sources familiar with the matter.

No final decision has been made on the scale or timing of the layoffs, but senior executives have recently informed other company leaders to begin planning workforce reductions, the sources said.

A Meta spokesperson described the reports as speculative and declined to confirm specific plans.

If the company proceeds with layoffs of around 20 percent, it would mark the largest workforce reduction since Meta’s restructuring in 2022 and 2023, which the company described as its “year of efficiency.” Meta had nearly 79,000 employees at the end of December, according to its latest regulatory filing.

In November 2022, Meta laid off about 11,000 workers, roughly 13 percent of its staff at the time. About four months later, the company announced an additional 10,000 job cuts.

Over the past year, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has pushed the company to accelerate its efforts in generative AI. Meta has offered large compensation packages to recruit top AI researchers for a new superintelligence team.

The company has also outlined plans to invest up to 600 billion dollars in building data centers by 2028. It recently acquired the AI-focused social networking platform Moltbook and is reportedly spending at least 2 billion dollars to purchase the Chinese AI startup Manus.

Zuckerberg has suggested that AI is already improving productivity, saying earlier this year that projects that once required large teams can now sometimes be handled by a single highly skilled worker.

Meta’s strategy reflects a broader trend across the technology sector, where companies are restructuring their workforces as AI tools become more capable. Earlier this year, Amazon confirmed plans to cut around 16,000 jobs, while fintech company Block also significantly reduced its staff, citing the increasing efficiency enabled by AI systems.

Meta’s AI push follows challenges with its Llama 4 models last year, including criticism over benchmark results and the cancellation of the largest version of the model. The company’s new superintelligence team is now working on a model called Avocado in an effort to strengthen its position in the AI race.