Meta Platforms Inc has announced plans to lay off around 600 employees from its Superintelligence Labs, a division that houses several thousand staff members, as part of an effort to make its artificial intelligence operations more agile and efficient.
The Facebook owner said on Wednesday, the cuts will affect the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit, along with teams working on AI infrastructure and product-driven AI projects, reports Reuters.
However, the newly established TBD Lab- comprising a few dozen engineers and researchers focused on Meta’s next-generation foundation models- will remain untouched.
The move was first reported by Axios, citing an internal company memo. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang stated having fewer team members would streamline decision-making and enhance each employee’s responsibility, scope, and impact.
Meta added it was encouraging those affected by the layoffs to apply for other internal roles within the company.
The announcement came a day after Meta secured a $27 billion financing deal with Blue Owl Capital, marking its largest private capital partnership to date. The funds will support the company’s most ambitious data center project.
Analysts noted the agreement would help Meta pursue its expansive AI goals by shifting much of the initial cost and risk to external investors while allowing the company to maintain a smaller ownership stake.
Meta, the parent firm of Facebook and Instagram, reorganized its AI initiatives under Superintelligence Labs in June following a wave of senior-level departures and lukewarm reception to its open-source Llama 4 model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg subsequently spearheaded an aggressive hiring campaign to reinvigorate Meta’s AI research.
Superintelligence Labs currently encompasses Meta’s foundations, product, FAIR, and TBD Lab teams- all central to the company’s push to advance next-generation AI systems.
Meta’s AI journey began in 2013 with the launch of the FAIR unit, which brought on renowned researcher Yann LeCun as chief AI scientist to build a global deep learning network and position Meta as a major player in the artificial intelligence frontier.
