Before Mass Layoffs, Meta Reassigns 7,000 Workers To Focus On AI
(Tuesday May 19, 2026 @11:00AM (BeauHD)
from the all-in-on-AI dept.)
- Reference: 0183275497
- News link: https://meta.slashdot.org/story/26/05/19/0027253/before-mass-layoffs-meta-reassigns-7000-workers-to-focus-on-ai
- Source link:
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times:
> Meta told employees on Monday that it was [1]reassigning 7,000 workers to focus on new initiatives around artificial intelligence , the latest change in a company transformation spurred by the powerful technology. Employees will be moved to four new organizations focused on building new A.I. tools and apps, Janelle Gale, Meta's head of human resources, said in an internal memo. The organizations will use "A.I. native design structures" and have fewer managers per employee than other parts of the company, she said, adding that company leaders will send details about the new roles on Wednesday. The restructuring "will make us more productive and make the work more rewarding," Ms. Gale wrote. Meta declined to comment further on the changes.
The move comes shortly before Meta begins laying off [2]roughly 8,000 employees , or 10 percent of its work force. Ms. Gale also mentioned Wednesday's layoffs in her memo. "We know days like this are extremely hard, and we appreciate you showing up for each other," Ms. Gale said.
According to the NYT, employees have been asked to work remotely that day and emails about the layoffs would be sent at 4 a.m. local time. Employees in the United States will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, along with two extra weeks for every year they worked at Meta.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/meta-reassigns-7000-employees-ai.html
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/05/18/179232/meta-layoffs-stress-harsh-ai-reality-inside-zuckerbergs-company
> Meta told employees on Monday that it was [1]reassigning 7,000 workers to focus on new initiatives around artificial intelligence , the latest change in a company transformation spurred by the powerful technology. Employees will be moved to four new organizations focused on building new A.I. tools and apps, Janelle Gale, Meta's head of human resources, said in an internal memo. The organizations will use "A.I. native design structures" and have fewer managers per employee than other parts of the company, she said, adding that company leaders will send details about the new roles on Wednesday. The restructuring "will make us more productive and make the work more rewarding," Ms. Gale wrote. Meta declined to comment further on the changes.
The move comes shortly before Meta begins laying off [2]roughly 8,000 employees , or 10 percent of its work force. Ms. Gale also mentioned Wednesday's layoffs in her memo. "We know days like this are extremely hard, and we appreciate you showing up for each other," Ms. Gale said.
According to the NYT, employees have been asked to work remotely that day and emails about the layoffs would be sent at 4 a.m. local time. Employees in the United States will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, along with two extra weeks for every year they worked at Meta.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/meta-reassigns-7000-employees-ai.html
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/05/18/179232/meta-layoffs-stress-harsh-ai-reality-inside-zuckerbergs-company
Apologies ahead of time (Score:5, Interesting)
by TuballoyThunder ( 534063 )
But I am having a hard time feeling sorry for the people that help make the modern attention-based economy that has savaged privacy. Much of the buffoonery going on today can be laid at the feet of social media.
AI native management (Score:2)
by Himmy32 ( 650060 )
> The organizations will use "A.I. native design structures" and have fewer managers per employee
Takes bold leadership to try answer the real business questions of "How many people can Prawn Jesus and Pirate Snoop Dogg handle managing?".
Re: (Score:2)
> It doesn't matter whether any of it works because they will make it work.
It doesn't work and they don't have magic to make it work. To the extent it does work, it's mostly automating away jobs which could have been automated away long ago but have been kept around for political reasons.
Sure, they can sack people and claim that AI will magically do what they used to do, but that just causes an Enshitification Cascade which leads to nothing working any more. And then we get social collapse.
Re: (Score:2)
>> It doesn't matter whether any of it works because they will make it work.
> It doesn't work and they don't have magic to make it work. To the extent it does work, it's mostly automating away jobs which could have been automated away long ago but have been kept around for political reasons.
> Sure, they can sack people and claim that AI will magically do what they used to do, but that just causes an Enshitification Cascade which leads to nothing working any more. And then we get social collapse.
As doomy as it sounds, I kind of wonder at this point if this isn't what some involved in tech circles are hoping for. If they can trigger complete social / societal collapse, it would be a *LOT* easier to convince the remaining government structures that the only possible solution is to hand the reins over to those that own the technology that "can save us all." Which is exactly the sales-pitch the AI prophets have been slinging since the start of the AI obsession. Maybe the end goal isn't removing the nee
Re: (Score:2)
> It doesn't work and they don't have magic to make it work. To the extent it does work, it's mostly automating away jobs which could have been automated away long ago but have been kept around for political reasons.
The problem is that it seems to work in some cases. For example, a few lawyers have been sanctioned for using AI to create briefs. On the surface, the briefs seemed fine but the cases cited did not exist or was not related to the case.
Re: (Score:2)
>> It doesn't matter whether any of it works because they will make it work.
> It doesn't work and they don't have magic to make it work. To the extent it does work, it's mostly automating away jobs which could have been automated away long ago but have been kept around for political reasons.
AI already works, but only in some areas like factory management, financials, medical, and ads. Those areas have already seen implementation, added functionality, and profits. However, Meta doesn't sell into those areas, aside from ads. Meta seems to be flinging people around trying to find something that sticks. However, Meta's AI incompetence doesn't erase the already existing AI successes in other companies.
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing slowing down adoption of AI is that usable AI costs slightly more than a full-time employee. In 2026 there is no cost savings in replacing your work force with ML/AI systems, although AI can be a work multiplier in some industries allowing for increases in productivity. We're already seeing the cooling off on the hiring of new college grads for engineering and tech. An old timer can steer several agent projects at once versus training up a junior software developer. The immediate benefits are
Re: (Score:2)
Putting aside whether LLMs have got the juice, which I personally doubt, humanity will need to decisively deal with automation sooner or later. It seems to me that the options are:
0. Do nothing. Let's see how this plays out! People are basically good, right?
1. Ban that shit. Whether that's just so-called "AI", just real AI, or full no-computers Butlerian Jihad.
2. Tax that shit. It'd have to be all the way into the ground, though.
3. Go communist (but for real this time).
4. Boycott companies that automat
Re: (Score:2)
5. It's a good tool, learn how to use it but treat it like it's borrowed, not owned. Learn what it does and take that learning into how you will do things in the future.