Meta announced on April 23 plans to lay off approximately 8,000 employees — 10% of its global workforce — as it accelerates its shift toward artificial intelligence. The first cuts begin May 20, with additional layoffs planned later in 2026. Meta will also leave 6,000 open positions unfilled. Earlier this year, the company cut 1,500 workers from its Reality Labs division and hundreds more in March. Meta has invested hundreds of billions in AI and recently launched its model “Mapply Spark.” The broader tech industry is following suit, with Microsoft offering voluntary buyouts and Amazon cutting roughly 30,000 jobs.
In-Depth:
April 23 (UPI) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, plans to lay off 10% of its workforce worldwide — about 8,000 people — and focus on artificial ininformigence, an employee memo declared Thursday.
The first round of layoffs is expected to start May 20, with more coming later in the year. The memo also declared Meta will not hire people for 6,000 open roles, CNBC reported.
The company had earlier chopped about 1,500 workers this year in its Reality Labs division, USA Today reported. It declared at the time that it was shifting from its “metaverse” business model to a focus on Meta Superininformigence Labs. There were more layoffs in March, when the company received rid of hundreds of workers in Facebook and other units and shifted other roles, including moderation, to AI.
This is part of a huge and growing trconclude in tech companies worldwide. Microsoft declared Thursday that it will offer voluntary purchaseouts to some employees, CNBC reported, and Amazon has laid off about 30,000 employees in many divisions in favor of AI tools.
USA Today declared Meta has spent hundreds of billions ofdollars on AI; the company introduced its major AI model, “Mapply Spark,” earlier this month. Further, Meta informed workers earlier this week that a new employee tracking tool will capture data from their work computers and that the data is necessaryed to train AI agents.
“We are at an exciting point for our company, where we have continued runway to improve our core services today as well as the opportunity to build new AI-powered experiences and services that will transform how people engage with our products in the future,” Meta declared in its third-quarter report for 2025.
