Meta's companywide AI hackathon in July is drawing strong employee pushback, with workers citing heavy workloads after recent layoffs and low morale.

What happened

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a companywide AI hackathon scheduled for July 14 to July 16, framed as a way to build camaraderie. The event, which will focus exclusively on AI innovation, quickly drew critical responses from employees in internal messages, with workers expressing frustration about having time to participate alongside their regular responsibilities.

Why it matters

Meta has laid off 8,000 people recently, and remaining staff report being stretched thin with added responsibilities and asked to cover more work with less support. Employees feel the timing and expectation to participate in a voluntary hackathon signals a disconnect from the pressures they face, and some are concerned that hackathon efforts will not count toward performance evaluations, making it harder to justify setting aside other projects.

What to watch

This is the first companywide hackathon to take place since the recent layoffs. The company also announced plans to increase budgets for team offsites and eliminate hot desking arrangements in some offices—moves that suggest leadership is attempting to address morale concerns, though employee sentiment on the hackathon itself remains skeptical.