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Around 600 employees of Meta, working in its AI Superintelligence Labs, will be laid off next month. The affected employees include those working in the Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) AI research lab, AI product division, and AI infrastructure division, Forbes reported.
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Meta lays off 600 employees
According to CNBC, the company’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, sent a memo to inform the employees of the cuts in manpower. It said that the termination date of the employees being relieved is November 21. Till then, the employees will be in a “non-working notice period.”
CNBC was able to access the memo and quoted it in their report. The employees are told that “during this time, your internal access will be removed, and you do not need to do any additional work for Meta. You may use this time to search for another role at Meta.”
To soften the blow of the layoff on the affected employees, they will be paid 16 weeks of severance and two weeks for every completed year in the company, “minus your notice period,” as per CNBC.
Also read: Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses to soon get a new Google-backed rival from Samsung
Meta’s mega plans for AI
While AI is becoming an increasingly influential component of the tech industry, Meta seems to have fallen behind in the race somewhat. As per Forbes, the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, decided to ramp up investment in the AI sector. In June this year, Zuckerberg announced that the AI operations would be handled by the Superintelligence Labs.
Meta invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, the company co-founded by Alexandr Wang. The latter was hired specifically to head the AI division in the company.
Along with Wang, GitHub CEO Nat Friedman has also been brought on board to boost the AI-based operations in the company. CNBC reports that the lukewarm response to Llama 4 AI models released by the company in April this year persuaded the Meta CEO to drastically increase investment and focus on AI.
These layoffs come as unexpected considering the increased recruitment for AI-related work in the company. However, a representative of the company told CNBC that the goal is to “reduce layers and operate more nimbly.”
FAQs:
What is Meta AI Superintelligence Labs?
This department was set up by Meta to work on and conduct research for AI-related topics. The aim is to increase Meta’s profile in the AI market.
How many employees are being laid off?
Around 600 Meta employees are being relieved from their current positions.
How much investment has Meta made to increase its profile in the AI market?
The investment runs into billions of dollars, with $14.3 billion being used only to buy Scale AI, the company co-founded by Alexandr Wang.
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