Meta cuts 600 AI jobs after $100M hiring spree. Is this the start of AI layoffs?

Just four months after Meta made headlines for luring three OpenAI researchers with $100 million bonuses, the company is now scaling back. According to a report from Axios, Meta is cutting about 600 positions across its Superintelligence Labs division — a move that caught many inside the company by surprise.

The layoffs affect multiple parts of Meta’s AI operations, including its Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) team, product-related AI units, and AI infrastructure teams. The company’s newly formed TBD Lab, however, will remain untouched, according to an internal memo cited in the report.

“Meta is cutting several hundred roles from its AI unit even as it continues to hire for its newer TBD Lab, Axios has learned. The cuts will affect the company’s FAIR AI research, product-related AI, and AI infrastructure units, while sparing the newly formed TBD Lab unit,” Axios reported.

Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer, told employees that the restructuring will help “streamline decision-making” and give remaining team members “greater responsibility, scope, and impact.” Meta hasn’t publicly commented on the cuts.

“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,” Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang wrote in the memo viewed by Axios.

Meta Lays Off 600 Employees Within AI Unit: From $100M Bonuses to AI Job Cuts

This shift comes on the heels of a hiring freeze in Meta’s AI division after a $14 billion spending spree that included massive talent poaching from competitors like OpenAI. The company said affected employees are being encouraged to apply for other internal roles, with many expected to stay within Meta.

The timing of the layoffs is striking. Just a day earlier, Meta secured a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl, marking its largest-ever private capital agreement. The deal will fund the company’s most ambitious data center project to date — a critical step in CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to build the infrastructure needed for what he calls “superintelligence.”

Some analysts see the financing as a way for Meta to continue chasing its AI ambitions without shouldering all the upfront risk. By bringing in outside investors, the company can preserve capital while still expanding its compute footprint.

Meta’s AI ambitions date back to 2013, when it launched the FAIR unit under chief AI scientist Yann LeCun. But the company reorganized its entire AI structure in June under Superintelligence Labs after senior staff departures and lukewarm feedback on its open-source Llama 4 model.

Zuckerberg said in July that Meta plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars building a network of massive data centers dedicated to AI research and superintelligence — the theoretical point where machines could match or surpass human intelligence.

Now, with layoffs following months of heavy spending and high-profile hires, Meta’s latest move raises a broader question across Silicon Valley: are AI layoffs beginning to surface just as the hype cycle peaks?