Meta Reportedly Set To Fire 8,000 Employees As Part Of AI Push

Meta is set to lay off 10% of its workforce, about 8,000 jobs, as part of the company’s push into artificial intelligence, according to a new report.

In a memo sent to employees, the company detailed that layoffs will begin next month, according to Bloomberg.

The company is also shedding a plan to fill 6,000 open roles.

It is the latest move by the company to give AI a larger role. This week, Reuters also reported that it rolled out a new tracking software on the computers of its U.S.-based employees to capture mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes, using the data to train artificial intelligence models aimed at building autonomous AI agents capable of performing everyday work tasks.

The tool, known as the Model Capability Initiative or MCI, will operate on a curated list of work-related applications and websites. It will also take occasional snapshots of screen content to provide context for the interactions, a staff AI research scientist posted Tuesday in an internal channel for the company’s Meta SuperIntelligence Labs team.

“If we’re building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them — things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. “To help, we’re launching an internal tool that will capture these kinds of inputs on certain applications to help us train our models.”

Meta emphasized that the tracking data will not be used for employee performance evaluations or any purpose beyond AI model training. The company said safeguards are in place to protect sensitive content, though specifics were not detailed in the memos.

The announcement quickly sparked internal debate and external backlash. Employees expressed concerns about privacy, surveillance and the long-term implications for job security in discussions on internal forums. Some viewed the program as turning workers into unwitting trainers for systems that could eventually automate their roles.

Meta is far from the only company making such decisions. Top Wall Street banks have also shed thousands of jobs in the first quarter of the year despite notching record profits, according to another report.

Bloomberg noted that Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America fired over a thousand employees each. The former did so the most, cutting almost 4,200 jobs. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, in turn, hired staff. Last year, the main banks reduced the most amount of jobs in a decade.