Meta slashes 8,000 jobs as it pivots towards AI

Business Meta slashes 8,000 jobs as it pivots towards AI May 20, 20262:22 PM ET John Ruwitch A Meta logo is shown on a video screen at LlamaCon 2025, an AI developer conference, in Menlo Park, Calif., April 29, 2025. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption toggle caption Jeff Chiu/AP Stay up to date with our Up First newsletter sent every weekday morning. The tech company Meta kicked off a sweeping reorganization on Wednesday that will shrink its workforce and accelerate a pivot toward artificial intelligence. In an internal memo last month, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp said it would lay off around 10% of its workforce — or about 8,000 people — in May. Company spokesperson Erica Sackin on Wednesday confirmed to NPR that those affected employees have been notified. Sponsor Message Technology Scott Turow's latest real-life legal thriller: Suing Meta for copyright infringement Another 7,000 Meta employees will see their roles change as part of the AI pivot, according to a source familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly about the topic. "To focus more on AI they are moving 7,000 people to teams that focus on AI projects," the person said. Sackin declined to comment on what teams were growing or shrinking as a result of the shakeup. The re-assignments were first reported by Reuters, which cited an internal memo saying the employees would be shifted to four new teams building AI tools and apps. NPR has not independently verified the contents of that report. Meta and other big tech companies have been placing huge bets on artificial intelligence, luring talent with giant pay packages and building multibillion dollar data centers to try to win the AI race — one in which Meta lags behind competitors such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. In January, Meta forecast capital expenditures this year that are almost double what it spent last year. Meta's reorganization is part of a string of announcements across the tech sector in recent months of...