Meta cuts 600 AI jobs while preserving superintelligence teams

Meta is cutting approximately 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence division, primarily targeting legacy AI research groups and certain product and infrastructure teams. The layoffs appear to be part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ongoing effort to reduce organizational inefficiencies rather than a response to economic pressures, with the company’s new superintelligence labs remaining largely unaffected.

What you should know: The cuts focus on divisions considered less effective while preserving Meta’s core AI ambitions.

• Employees in Meta’s new superintelligence labs are expected to remain unaffected by the layoffs.
• Workers who lose their positions can reapply for other roles within Meta or accept a severance package worth 16 weeks of pay plus two weeks per completed year of service.
• The company maintains its commitment to building AI models and infrastructure to compete with OpenAI, Amazon, and Google.

The big picture: Meta continues aggressive AI investment despite workforce reductions, with expenses projected to reach $114-118 billion in 2025 and even higher costs expected in 2026.

• The company is building its 29th data center in El Paso, Texas, designed to scale up to 1GW and “support both the traditional servers of today and future generations of AI-enabled hardware.”
• This reflects Meta’s long-term commitment to AI infrastructure development.

Why this matters: The targeted nature of these layoffs suggests Meta is refining its AI strategy rather than retreating from the space.

• Alexandr Wang from Meta’s superintelligence labs noted that smaller teams can make faster decisions and create more impact.
• Internally, Meta’s AI unit was considered “pretty large and inefficient,” indicating these cuts aim to streamline operations.

Recent context: Since warning employees of an “intense year” and laying off 3,600 workers in February 2025, Zuckerberg has been relatively restrained in workforce reductions.

• The company cut 100 jobs in April and now 600 in October, according to layoffs.fyi.
• These numbers are lower than many industry observers initially expected following Zuckerberg’s February warning.