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Meta announces 600 job cuts in its AI division

Employees were told they could apply for other jobs within the company.
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Meta is cutting 600 jobs within its AI Superintelligence Lab, the company’s artificial intelligence division.

In an internal memo first obtained by Axios and later confirmed by Scripps News, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the downsizing is intended to streamline decision-making.

“By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” Wang wrote.

The memo, sent Wednesday morning, informed employees of the cuts. However, it also noted that their services may still be needed in a different capacity.

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“This is a talented group of individuals, and we need their skills in other parts of the company,” he wrote.

The layoffs come as Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, continues to recruit top AI researchers in an effort to scale its performance in the artificial intelligence space.

Meta faces stiff competition from other companies that are considered leaders in the field, including OpenAI and Google.

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