Meta Reassigns 7,000 Employees to Focus on A.I.

May 19, 2026 - 04:17

Meta is moving roughly 7,000 employees into new roles focused on artificial intelligence, the company confirmed this week. The internal reassignments come just two days before the social media giant is set to cut about 8,000 jobs, representing 10 percent of its total workforce.

The restructuring is part of Meta's broader push to integrate AI across its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Workers from teams like hardware, advertising, and trust and safety are being retrained and placed into AI development units. A company spokesperson said the goal is to accelerate work on generative AI, chatbots, and recommendation systems.

The layoffs, expected to hit middle management and non-technical roles hardest, follow a pattern of cost-cutting that began in 2023. Meta has already eliminated over 20,000 positions in the past two years as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "year of efficiency." The latest cuts will primarily affect teams that are not directly tied to AI or the metaverse.

Employees being reassigned will receive training in machine learning and data science. Some will work on Meta's large language model, Llama, which competes with OpenAI's GPT and Google's Gemini. The company is also expanding its AI research division, with plans to hire additional engineers and researchers in the coming months.

The moves signal a clear shift in priorities. While Meta once bet heavily on the metaverse, it is now doubling down on AI as a core driver of growth. Zuckerberg has described AI as the company's "largest investment area" for 2025. The layoffs and reassignments are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.