Meta to begin layoffs on May 20 as AI restructuring accelerates: Report

Meta Platforms is preparing to begin a fresh round of layoffs on May 20 as the company undertakes a sweeping internal restructuring aimed at becoming more deeply integrated with artificial intelligence across its operations, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

The restructuring is expected to affect around 8000 employees and comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg sharpens the company’s focus on generative AI and autonomous AI agents. Employees in North America have been asked to work remotely on the day the cuts begin, signalling the scale and sensitivity of the exercise.

In the memo, Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale told employees the company plans to move 7,000 employees to new initiatives related to AI workflows and to eliminate managerial roles.

In addition, "many leaders will announce org changes," she said. "As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles ⁠into their new org structures. We're now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership," Reuters read in the memo. 

The Facebook and Instagram parent has been aggressively repositioning itself around AI over the past year, pouring billions into infrastructure, models, and talent. Internally, the latest move is being framed as part of a broader push to make Meta more “AI-native”, with flatter management structures and leaner teams.

The restructuring also includes a hiring pullback. Meta has reportedly shut around 6000 of open job listings as it reallocates resources toward AI development. Headcount at the social media giant was 77,986 employees at the end of March, according to company filings.

Layoffs were hinted in Meta's latest earnings call 

In the earnings call of Meta's latest quarter, the company's CFO Susan Li said, "As we grow our infrastructure spend, we remain committed to operating efficiently, and we recently shared internally that we plan to reduce the size of our employee base in May. We believe a leaner operating model will allow us to move more quickly while also helping to offset the substantial investments we're making."

These layoffs come as a reason of the increasing spends or investments to support and train future models, and, provide the inference capacity necessary to deliver "personal and business agents to billions of people around the world, along with several other Al product experiences we're developing," she said. Meta had sharply raised its projected capital expenditure range for 2026 to between $125 billion and $145 billion, largely driven by AI data centres, chips, and infrastructure investments.