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Zuckerberg Admits Mistakes in Meta’s AI Restructuring After 8,000 Layoffs

His memo promises stability measures, a pledge of no further companywide layoffs for 2026, aiming to steady morale as Meta presses on with large AI spending.

Overview

  • Meta carried out a major restructuring in mid‑May that eliminated about 8,000 jobs and reassigned roughly 7,000 employees into new AI teams.
  • Public filings show the cuts were concentrated in California and Washington, and more than 1,400 managers — including many software engineering managers — were among those let go.
  • Engineers moved into the new Applied AI unit describe menial, repetitive tasks and low morale, with one employee hijacking a livestreamed meeting to shout at an AI executive.
  • Over 1,600 employees signed an internal petition opposing a proposed program to collect clicks and keystrokes for AI training, prompting Meta to scale back data collection and offer limited pause options.
  • Zuckerberg’s June 12 memo acknowledged execution errors, pledged no more companywide layoffs this year, set steps to reduce manager spans, boost team budgets, and host a companywide AI hackathon in July as short‑term fixes.