Reuters reports that Meta is contemplating significant job cuts, potentially impacting at least 20% of its total staff, according to their sources.
The Facebook-owned corporation might implement these workforce reductions to help balance its substantial investments in AI infrastructure, as well as its AI-focused acquisitions and recruitment efforts. As of December 31, Meta’s employee count stood at nearly 79,000, according to a recent filing.
A Meta spokesperson released a statement describing the report as “speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.”
This news emerges while numerous tech firms — Block being the latest — have declared extensive layoffs, justifying them as essential due to increasing AI-driven automation. However, critics and prominent figures like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, contend that many such reductions are a form of “AI-washing,” implying that executives are attributing job cuts to AI to mask other underlying problems, such as excessive hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meta previously conducted large-scale layoffs in November 2022, eliminating 11,000 positions, and again in March 2023, reducing its workforce by an additional 10,000.