Meta reallocated 7,000 employees to focus on AI

Meta told employees on Monday that it is redeploying 7,000 employees to focus on new AI initiatives, the latest change in the company’s transformation driven by powerful technology.

Employees will be moved to four new organizations focused on building new AI tools and applications, Janelle Gale, Meta’s head of human resources, said in an internal memo. The organizations will use “native AI design structures” and have fewer managers per employee than other parts of the company, she said, adding that company leaders will send details of the new roles on Wednesday.

The restructuring “will make us more productive and work more rewarding,” Ms. Gale wrote in the report. Meta declined to comment further on the changes.

The reassignment was announced ahead of Wednesday’s layoffs of roughly 8,000 employees, or 10 percent of Meta’s workforce. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, employed more than 78,000 people at the end of 2025. Late last month, it told employees that some of their jobs would be cut as part of Meta’s efforts to become more efficient as it invested heavily in AI development.

Across the tech industry, companies are slimming down and refocusing their workforces in the age of artificial intelligence. Last week, networking giant Cisco announced it was laying off 4,000 employees as it devotes more resources to AI. Microsoft, Block, and Coinbase also recently announced reorganizations as a result of the technology.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has staked his company’s future on AI Meta is investing in data centers to power the technology and keep up with AI rivals like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. On a call with investors in January, Mr. Zuckerberg said the company planned to spend $115 billion to $135 billion this year, much of it on developing new artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, Meta released its work on the immersive world of metaversion, a previous big bet, and laid off some staff in that area. The company got employees to use AI in their daily work and started using AI in the performance evaluation of many employees.

Last month, Meta said it not only plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce, but also close 6,000 open positions.

The workers were on edge. This month, Meta’s new policy of training AI tools with employee data sparked outrage over privacy concerns. The company also reassigned employees to the new AI organization in connection with the layoffs.

In her note that was reported earlier, according to Reuters, Ms. Gale also mentioned Wednesday’s layoffs. She asked employees to work remotely that day and said layoff emails would be sent at 4 a.m. local time. Employees in the United States will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, plus an additional two weeks for each year they worked at Meta.

“We know days like this are extremely difficult and we appreciate you showing up for each other,” Ms Gale said.

Mike Isaac contributed reporting from Oakland, California.