Meta has confirmed that around 600 employees from its Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) were laid off this week, marking one of the most significant shake-ups within its artificial intelligence division. The move was confirmed by Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who addressed the decision in a memo shared with employees.
In his message, Wang emphasized that the restructuring aims to make the AI division more agile and efficient. “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,” he wrote.
A push toward “personal superintelligence”
Meta’s MSL unit was established in June as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious push toward developing what he calls “personal superintelligence.” This concept envisions AI systems that not only assist users but could eventually surpass human capabilities in reasoning and creativity.
Since its creation, MSL has become one of Meta’s most expensive and high-profile bets, with the company spending hundreds of millions of dollars to hire top engineers and researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Apple, and other leading tech firms.
Internal challenges and growing pains
However, rapid expansion brought complications. Overlapping goals between Meta’s various AI groups — such as Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), product, research, and infrastructure teams — led to confusion and internal tensions. These overlapping mandates, combined with evolving priorities, reportedly caused early staff departures and friction between teams.
The restructuring aims to streamline operations by uniting these scattered groups under a clearer structure and ensuring that each team member carries more responsibility.
Wang’s memo: Fewer people, greater impact
In his internal memo, Wang expressed that the layoffs were not a sign of reduced AI investment but rather a strategic decision to strengthen the organization. “Earlier today, we made some changes to MSL to move us toward being the most agile and talent-dense team in the industry,” Wang wrote.
He continued, “It’s never an easy decision to say goodbye to colleagues. These are talented people who have worked extremely hard and contributed to our AI effort. Anyone in North America whose role was impacted has already been notified. Those who may be impacted in EMEA have been notified and remain subject to consultation.”
Support for affected employees
According to Wang, Meta is actively helping affected employees find new roles within the company. “We have spun up a tiger team of recruiters to help this group find the right match for their expertise and land in roles through an expedited hiring process,” he added.
He also reassured staff that Meta’s commitment to AI remains strong: “This by no means signals any decrease in investment. In fact, we will continue to hire industry-leading AI-native talent. Our goal is to enable MSL to move faster.”
A long-term vision for Meta’s AI future
Meta’s leadership remains optimistic about its future in AI. The company is continuing to train new large-scale models, expand its compute infrastructure, and integrate advanced AI capabilities across products like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
As Wang concluded, “We remain excited about the models we are training, our ambitious compute plans, and the products we are building, and I’m confident in our path to superintelligence.”
The recent layoffs, though difficult, are seen as a step toward creating smaller, more focused teams that can move faster and execute Meta’s bold AI vision.
