Meta’s AI Division in Crisis: 600 Employees Fired Amid Superintelligence Turmoil

Restructuring to “Speed Things Up”

In a memo to employees, Alexandr Wang, Meta’s AI Chief Scientist, stated that these cuts are designed to make decision-making faster and more efficient as the company’s AI projects proliferate.

Launched in 2024, the Superintelligence Labs division was a symbol of Meta’s ambitions in the generative AI race—a field dominated by OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Its goal is to develop models that can compete with ChatGPT and enhance the company’s own products, such as the Meta AI assistant integrated into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.

However, according to Business Insider, the internal organization of the company had become overly complex, slowing down decision-making cycles and dispersing resources. We need to reduce management layers and clarify our priorities, Wang reportedly said in the memo.

Mixed Signals in the AI Race

This move comes even as Meta heavily invests in AI, including its open-source models Llama 3 and the upcoming Llama 4, set for release in 2026. However, the Menlo Park-based company must balance its technological ambitions with financial pressures brought about by its costly ventures into the metaverse and mixed reality.

Thus, these layoffs might reflect a desire to streamline expenses while refocusing teams on practical AI applications rather than on fundamental research. It is well known that developing and training AI is quite expensive.