The next round of layoffs is coming at Meta, with the company reportedly looking to cut about 10% of its global workforce, or approximately 8,000 employees, as early as next month.
As reported by Reuters, Meta is planning the cuts for May 20 as it continues to rationalize costs in light of its massive investment into the development of artificial intelligence.
Meta previously cut 10% of staff from its Reality Labs division in January, and Reuters reported that further staff cuts are planned for the second half of the year, though additional details were not confirmed.
The cuts come as Meta is increasingly reliant on AI, which the company believes will enable it to reduce human labor overheads. The company is also looking to prove the value of its AI systems and ensure that it remains flexible as it continues to invest billions of dollars into AI development.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been talking up the potential of AI’s ability to reduce human staff for some time.
In an interview with Joe Rogan in January 2025, Zuckerberg discussed the rapid development of AI systems, saying, “Probably in 2025, we at Meta, as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of mid-level engineer that you have at your company that can write code.”
It seems that Zuckerberg is looking to put his money where his mouth is. Reports have also suggested that Zuckerberg is using himself as a guinea pig for his AI experiments by training an AI system that may eventually be able to replicate him and his professional decisions.
Maybe one day, Meta will be entirely powered by AI. Which no doubt Zuckerberg would love, given his attachment to AI as a concept and a money-saving tool. Meanwhile, this plan would also justify the hundreds of billions of dollars the company is pouring into its AI projects.
If Meta can prove that AI can do the work, that could make its AI tools hugely valuable to more corporations, and those organizations could then end up integrating Meta AI as a backbone.
Though it remains to be seen just how beneficial AI will be in terms of replacing real people, or whether it can function as a standalone system. Most research, like this report from Deloitte, suggests that organizations that have adopted AI are only seeing incremental gains, and only specific roles are able to be fully automated or outsourced to AI agents.
Given that Meta is an almost entirely online business, it may be in a better position to maximize the gains from AI tools. Its reliance on engineers and coding skills may be how the company is able to cut so much of its staff and drive efficiencies.
But essentially, Meta’s cuts are likely a demonstration of the rising power of its AI tools, and as such, Meta may move to further adopt more AI processes, both as a means to cut costs and showcase its AI development.
Meta brought in $200.97 billion in revenue in 2025, though it has committed more than $600 billion to AI development over the next three years. The company had more than 79,000 staff as of December 31, which gives it a large pool to experiment on with its AI tools.
