In a Silicon Valley-style irony, Meta—the corporation that’s all about artificial intelligence dominance—made a surprising move. It just whacked 600 staff from its AI Superintelligence Labs.
This is not another wave of tech redundancies. It’s an action that’s causing shockwaves within the very industry creating the future of machine intelligence.
The “Lean AI” Strategy Nobody Saw Coming
Only months after making its lofty claim, Meta has decided to downsize its most cutting-edge unit. Meta claimed to lead the AI race. Sources indicate the layoffs, primarily from Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) and AI Infrastructure, are part of a “leaner, faster” plan laid out by Alexandr Wang, the new Chief AI Officer appointed from Scale AI.
In a confidential memo, Wang also apparently made the case that “smaller teams move faster and think bolder.” The news feels like a rough break-up for the scores of engineers who are suddenly unemployed. It is less like a branding makeover.
Zuckerberg’s “Efficiency Revolution”
These cuts come even as Mark Zuckerberg invests billions in AI data centers, such as Meta’s newly announced $27 billion Hyperion project in Louisiana—a data center so large it could be larger than Manhattan.
The paradox is stark: while Meta is breaking ground in AI hardware and capacity, it is reducing the same human teams. These are the teams that created its vision. In short, AI is thriving—but its people are hemorrhaging.
A Global Tech Reckoning
Meta’s action is just one part of a broader domino effect throughout the tech universe. More than 90,000 tech employees have been fired in 2025 so far. Behemoths such as Amazon, TCS, and Google are resetting their staff for automation and efficiency.
One of the laid-off workers, an Indian AI researcher on an H-1B visa, became a viral sensation after posting about her experience online. She was unexpectedly out of work only nine months into her Meta job. The internet’s reaction was rapid and sympathetic, with founders and startups presenting her opportunities within hours of her post.
Is Meta Losing Its Human Touch?
For a firm that’s betting on the future of connected intelligence, the timing couldn’t be more aptly described as ironic. These lay-offs seem less like cost-cutting measures. They appear more like cultural reinvention. It is a risk-reward gamble that lighter AI squads will drive innovation faster.
But under the boardroom spin, one question hangs in the air:
Can Meta create the future of artificial intelligence… after letting go the humans who made it possible?
