Up to 16,000 Meta jobs at stake as Zuckerberg focuses on AI

Meta is planning sweeping lay-offs that could affect 20 per cent or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter said, as it seeks to offset costly artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers.No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not been finalised, the people said.Top executives have recently signalled the plans to other senior leaders at Meta and told them to begin planning how to pare back, according to two of the people. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to disclose the cuts.Meta did not immediately comment.Facebook Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth speaks during Meta Connect event at the headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on September 27, 2023. Photo: AFPIf Meta settles on the 20 per cent figure, the lay-offs will be the company’s most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023 that it dubbed the “year of efficiency”.It employed nearly 79,000 people as of December 31, according to its latest filing. The company laid off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, or around 13 per cent of its workforce at the time. Around four months later, it announced it was cutting another 10,000 jobs.