Meta Shelves Second Wave of Layoffs as AI Focus Deepens

AI-Focused Restructuring Leads Meta to Pause Job Cuts

According to НВ — Техно: Meta is holding off on the next round of workforce reductions as it continues reshaping operations around artificial intelligence. According to Reuters, the company's Project OT (Organization Transformation) plan intended to remove entire roles, make AI more central to everyday work, and in some teams shrink staff levels down to 60% of what they currently are. The plan relied on layoffs, scrapping unfilled positions, and letting go of employees deemed less efficient. Rather than push ahead in November, Mark Zuckerberg declined to proceed with that scheduled wave or put it on indefinite hold.

Back in 2023, Meta already cut about a quarter of its workforce during a prior reorganization. Early indicators, however, show that AI adoption inside the company has yet to deliver the expected payoff. Although code changes across Meta’s platforms and infrastructure climbed by 220% year over year, only 36% more new or improved features made it into users' hands. Meanwhile, technical and security problems grew 40%, and staff time spent dealing with them jumped 70%. Zuckerberg admitted in July that he had overestimated how quickly the technology would advance, saying the development of AI agents did not speed up as forecast.

Internal Friction and Tactical Shifts

Meta employees in the U.S. also pushed back on a monitoring system installed on work computers that logged mouse movements and keystrokes. That caused worker satisfaction scores to fall 19 points and heightened union-organizing efforts. Still, Meta remains committed to an AI-centric redesign of the company. Zuckerberg promised employees that no sweeping layoffs would take place in 2023, though lighter cuts might appear in 2026 and a more extensive reorganization could follow in 2027. This situation fits into a larger pattern in the tech sector, where companies are struggling to prove that heavy AI investments are translating into efficiency gains.

Several Meta teams already operate with leaner AI-driven structures, and the corporation continues spending heavily on infrastructure to support its AI ambitions. Putting the second wave of layoffs on hold signals an internal strategic adjustment to new technology. Even with a bumpy road in AI implementation, Meta’s leadership remains convinced that the tech will define the company’s long-term path. They are therefore balancing this conviction against employee morale and an expressed desire to avoid further wide-scale job cuts.

Meta's pause on the next round of layoffs reflects a deeper strategic recalibration around emerging AI technology.