Meta reassigns 7,000 employees to four new AI-focused groups while planning layoffs of roughly 8,000 workers as Zuckerberg accelerates AI spending.

Meta informed employees on Monday that approximately 7,000 workers would be reassigned into four newly created AI organizations focused on building AI-powered products and tools, with the new groups operating using "AI-native" structures and leaner management layers, according to an internal memo reported by the New York Times.

The restructuring precedes planned layoffs affecting around 8,000 employees, or nearly 10% of Meta's workforce; the company employed more than 78,000 people at the end of 2025. Meta had previously disclosed plans to close about 6,000 open positions as it reallocates resources toward AI infrastructure and development.

Zuckerberg stated Meta expects to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion in 2026, with much of that investment tied to AI and data center expansion to compete with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The company has also reportedly scaled back some metaverse-related efforts while increasing employee expectations around the use of AI tools in day-to-day work.