Meta has announced plans to cut approximately 600 jobs within its artificial intelligence sector. This downsizing will affect Meta’s longstanding Fundamental AI Research department, commonly referred to as FAIR, as well as its AI product and infrastructure teams. Despite these reductions, the company maintains its recruitment efforts for the new superintelligence team, TBD Lab.
Ana Brekalo, a representative from Meta, confirmed the details provided by Axios. Earlier this year, Meta embarked on an extensive AI hiring campaign following a significant investment of $14.3 billion in Scale AI and the recruitment of Alexandr Wang as CEO. However, this hiring wave paused a few months later as the company declared a reorganization centered on AI-related products and infrastructure.
During this period, the focus on Meta’s AI research group has waned, and changes in leadership have occurred, with Joelle Pineau, head of FAIR, departing earlier. In a statement from August, head of Meta AI, Wang, indicated that the company plans to incorporate and expand many FAIR research initiatives within TBD Lab’s more comprehensive model explorations.
In this reshuffling, Meta is scaling back roles in FAIR and other sectors while bringing on board notable talent for TBD Lab, as evidenced by their recent strategic hires.
Wang communicated in a memo shared with Axios that reducing team size could streamline decision-making, thereby bolstering the influence and responsibility of each team member. Those affected by this restructuring may seek other opportunities within Meta.