Why Meta May Consider Workforce Cuts Amid AI Push
A report from Reuters has suggested that Meta may be planning layoffs that could impact 20% of its employees.
Meta could be considering layoffs affecting a fifth of its workforce as the company invests billions in artificial intelligence infrastructure, says Reuters. The potential cuts highlight a strategic shift by CEO Mark Zuckerberg towards automation and increased efficiency.
The news, based on information from three anonymous sources familiar with the matter that spoke with Reuters, suggests senior leaders at Meta are being asked to plan where reductions could be made. These cuts would help offset significant AI infrastructure spending while reducing headcount as artificial intelligence takes on more routine tasks.
Andy Stone, spokesperson for Meta, describes the report as "speculative reporting about theoretical approaches."
Billions invested in AI infrastructure
In January 2026, Mark announced Meta Compute, a new division dedicated to building and managing AI infrastructure. The chief executive shared that the company "is planning to build tens of gigawatts this decade, and hundreds of gigawatts more over time."
The commitment follows Mark's announcement at a White House dinner in 2025 that Meta plans to invest "at least US$600bn" in US infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, according to Reuters. This includes hundreds of billions of dollars to begin construction on several data centres.
Meta warned investors in October that capital expenditure costs for 2026 would be notably larger than in 2025. The company predicted in its 2025 earnings report that this spend will range between US$115bn and US$115bn and US$115bn and US$135bn, which could be almost double its 2025 capex of US$72.2bn.
Mark says of this strategy on an earnings call: "As we plan for the future, we will continue to invest very significantly in infrastructure to train leading models and deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people and businesses around the world."
Performance management under scrutiny
Meta made changes to the way it measures performance in January 2026, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider. The new system rewards employees based on their contribution to business outcomes and has four ratings, ranging from outstanding to not meeting expectations.
In 2025, the company said that it would cut 5% of its workforce based on poor performance. It previously cut 11,000 roles in 2022 and 10,000 in 2023, which was dubbed the company's 'Year of Efficiency' by Mark.
With a current workforce of more than 75,000 employees as of mid-2025, these potential cuts could impact around 15,000 people globally. While Reuters says no date has been set for these cuts, the sources share that senior leaders are being asked to plan where they wish to make reductions.
AI washing concerns emerge
As more companies announce AI-based layoffs, critics are suggesting that many of these cuts could be due to 'AI washing'. At the AI Impact Summit in February 2026, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman shares that he believes many businesses are unfairly blaming AI for workforce cuts.
Sam told attendees: "I don't know what the exact percentage is, but there's some AI washing where people are blaming AI for layoffs that they would otherwise do, and then there's some real displacement by AI of different kinds of jobs".
He continued to say that while he did anticipate AI leading to some job displacement, "we'll find new kinds of jobs, as we do with every tech revolution."
