“We effectively have two primary cost areas in the organization: compute infrastructure and personnel-related expenses,” Zuckerberg stated in the session, as reported by Reuters.
“If we’re allocating more resources to one of these areas to better serve our community, it means there’s less funding available for the other. Thus, we do need to reduce the company’s size somewhat,” he explained.
Zuckerberg noted that the workforce reductions were not connected to Meta’s restructuring around a newly designed “AI native” framework or the initiatives aimed at creating AI agents capable of performing tasks autonomously.
The lack of communication regarding the layoffs, especially amidst announcements about the AI-centered organizational “transformation” and a new program to monitor employee mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes to train AI agents, has led to frustration among Meta staff.
In certain instances, employees have openly criticized Zuckerberg and other executives on Meta’s internal messaging platform over these changes, according to screenshots of the comments reviewed by Reuters.
“Encouraging everyone to utilize AI tools for increased work efficiency is not what’s causing the layoffs,” Zuckerberg explained to employees, though he acknowledged that “we’ll see how all this develops” and mentioned that the company would “provide more information soon.”
This town hall on Thursday was the first occasion Zuckerberg addressed employees directly regarding the layoffs since Reuters initially reported the plans in March.
Meta plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 10% on May 20 and is considering further reductions later in the year.
Zuckerberg and other leaders have confirmed the May layoffs but have refrained from discussing any future plans.
“I wish I could tell you that I have a clear plan for the next three years regarding how this will unfold. I don’t. I don’t think anyone does,” he stated.
