Meta is cutting roughly 600 roles from its artificial intelligence division to tighten control and accelerate its AI ambitions.
The layoffs, confirmed by a Meta spokesperson to CNBC, mark one of the company’s largest internal shakeups since it poured $14.3 billion into AI earlier this year. Meta says the restructuring is designed to strip away bureaucracy, flatten the org chart, and give its AI teams the agility to move faster in a race where every iteration counts.
The layoffs were announced in a memo from Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined the company in June following Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Employees in Meta’s AI infrastructure teams, its Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit (FAIR), and other product-related roles will be affected, CNBC reported.
Restructuring under Wang’s leadership
The cuts did not affect employees within TBD Labs, which includes many of the senior AI hires Meta brought in over the summer, CNBC reported. Those staff members working under Wang’s supervision were spared, reflecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s focus on retaining recent hires brought in to accelerate Meta’s AI development.
Within Meta, the AI organization had grown large and complex, with FAIR and other product-oriented teams often competing for computing resources, CNBC reported. When Wang’s team joined Meta to create Meta Superintelligence Labs, it absorbed the existing AI unit. The layoffs are intended to trim the department and strengthen Wang’s leadership role in guiding Meta’s AI strategy.
Business Insider reported that the restructuring is part of Meta’s broader shift to consolidate AI operations and automate aspects of its research. Analysts cited by the publication said the reorganization brings Meta’s AI oversight under a more unified structure to improve coordination between research and product teams.
Severance and internal communications
Some affected workers were notified that Nov. 21 would be their termination date. Those employees entered a “non-working notice period,” remaining on payroll but losing internal access to company systems.
“During this time, your internal access will be removed and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta,” the message read, as reported by CNBC. “You may use this time to search for another role at Meta.”
Meta said it would provide 16 weeks of severance pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, minus the notice period.
AI investment and broader company outlook
The restructuring follows a period of rapid investment and rising costs tied to Meta’s AI initiatives. CNBC reported that Zuckerberg has grown frustrated with the company’s pace of progress, particularly after the release of its Llama 4 model in April, which received a muted response from developers.
Earlier this year, Meta launched Superintelligence Labs, led by Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, to unify AI research and engineering efforts. On Meta’s second-quarter earnings call in July, the company projected total expenses between $114 billion and $118 billion for 2025, with additional growth expected in 2026 as AI spending continues to expand.
What enterprise leaders should watch
For enterprise technology leaders, Meta’s restructuring reflects a broader trend among large tech firms: consolidating AI research groups to eliminate redundancy and align leadership with measurable outcomes. As organizations move AI initiatives from research to production, operational discipline and cost control are becoming central to sustaining innovation.
Meta’s changes also underscore how companies are increasingly treating AI as a core business function rather than a separate research endeavor. Enterprises investing in generative AI can expect similar pressure to balance innovation speed with governance, accountability, and infrastructure efficiency.
To learn how organizations are adapting to the rise of AI and its impact on the workforce, read TechRepublic’s guide on AI adoption and workforce impact strategies.
This article was reviewed by Kezia Jungco.
