Meta cuts 600 jobs in ‘bloated’ AI unit as tech giant aims to move faster

DENVER – Meta Platforms is cutting about 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence (AI) unit, Superintelligence Labs, as it aims to move more quickly in the competitive AI race.

Employees impacted by the cuts were alerted on Oct 22, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.

Meta’s newly formed TBD Lab group, which includes many of the highly paid recent hires, is not affected. 

The job cuts will affect Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research unit, as well as teams focused on product-related AI and AI infrastructure, the company said.

“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 Mr Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer, in a memo to co-workers.

The layoffs are an attempt by Meta to continue to trim the department and further cement his role in steering the company’s AI strategy.

Within Meta, the AI unit was considered to be bloated, with teams often vying for computing resources, sources told CNBC. When the new hires joined to create Superintelligence Labs, it inherited the oversized AI unit, they said.

Meta is encouraging impacted employees to apply for jobs elsewhere within the company, and will keep hiring for its AI teams moving forward.

The downsizing is the latest move in the heated AI race by Meta and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, who is spending aggressively to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google.

Meta has spent billions acquiring top talent from around the industry, including a US$14.3 billion (S$18.6 billion) investment in data labelling start-up Scale AI, which led to Mr Wang joining Meta and leading its AI efforts. BLOOMBERG