Meta has been hiring aggressively this year, bringing in employees from companies including OpenAI, Apple, and xAI for its artificial intelligence unit called Meta Superintelligence Labs. In October, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang reportedly informed staff that 600 roles from the unit will be cut.
According to a report, Meta’s recently formed TBD Lab group has not been affected. This group includes many of the high paid and recent hires. The information was based on an internal memo.
Reports say MSL has hired 50 people including employees poached from Apple, Anthropic, xAI, Google, and OpenAI. Some of these packages went up to 100 million dollars. Meta invested billions to bring in top talent, including 14.3 billion dollars spent on data labelling startup Scale AI. This investment led to Wang joining Meta and heading its AI initiatives.
A source said that Meta will encourage the impacted employees to apply for other roles inside the company. The source added that Meta will continue hiring for its AI teams.
Signs of this move appeared earlier. On 20 August, Media reported that Meta had paused hiring for its AI division. A spokesperson said that the freeze was part of its “basic organisational planning” as Meta is “undertaking yearly budgeting and planning exercises.”
Layoffs linked to industry wide changes
Meta is not the only tech company reducing jobs connected to artificial intelligence. Other major companies have also cut roles. Some said that AI is reshaping business needs.
Google: In September, Google cut more than 200 contractors working on AI projects such as Gemini and AI Overviews. These workers helped train and improve AI systems. On 2 October, Google reportedly cut 100 people in the design department as part of efforts to speed up AI development. These staff worked on data and tools used to study and support user behaviour.
Tata Consultancy Services: Tata Group technology unit TCS has cut 6,000 staff which is 1 percent of its global workforce and plans to cut 6,000 more. On 10 October, TCS launched an AI experience zone and design studio in London. The company plans to create 5,000 new jobs in Britain in three years.
Amazon: The company plans to cut close to 15 percent of jobs across several divisions. CEO Andy Jassy has said that those who do not adapt to AI will be left behind. In a June memo he wrote, “Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company.”
Salesforce: CEO Marc Benioff announced 4,000 customer support job cuts due to the use of AI tools. The customer support workforce has reduced from 9,000 to 5,000.
Accenture: On 8 October, Accenture said it will cut 11,000 jobs worldwide as part of its faster AI adoption.
These moves reflect a major shift in the technology industry. Companies are reducing some jobs while investing heavily in new AI capabilities. The focus is on building stronger and faster AI systems.
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