Meta Sheds 8,000 Jobs, Freezes Hiring, Commits £100 Billion to AI in 2026 Shift
Meta has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 10%, approximately 8,000 employees, beginning next month. The company also intends to freeze thousands of open positions, according to an internal memo distributed on Thursday. This organisational shift is driven by a substantial increase in Meta's expenditure on artificial intelligence (AI) projects.
The company is projected to spend GBP#100 billion on AI development this year, a figure equivalent to its total AI investment over the preceding three years. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's co-founder and chief executive, indicated in January that further job reductions were imminent. He has previously stated that 2026 will be the year AI dramatically alters working practices, citing increased productivity among employees utilising AI tools.
These upcoming redundancies mark Meta's most extensive workforce reduction since 2023. This follows earlier, smaller rounds of layoffs this year, which saw around 2,000 staff depart. The company's internal focus and substantial financial resources have shifted predominantly towards AI model and tool development in recent months.
In a related move, employees were recently informed that Meta would begin monitoring and logging their interactions with work computers to train and enhance its AI models. This initiative has been described by some staff as 'dystopian', particularly in light of the ongoing job cuts.
Several other major technology firms, including Amazon, Oracle, Block, and Snap, have also implemented significant job reductions this year. These companies similarly cite the growing capabilities of AI technology or increased investment in the sector as a primary factor in their decisions to reduce staffing levels.
