Meta, a leading name in the tech world that owns the biggest social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, is reportedly cutting around 600 jobs within its Superintelligence Labs unit. This is said to be another drastic change in its AI strategy, as per the Axios report. The layoff will impact the number of AI-focused units within the company, like Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), product-centric AI and AI infrastructure teams.
The newly established TBD Lab has specialised in the development of future-generation AI models, which will not be impacted by the reductions. The internal reorganisation is a part of Meta's whole strategy to reprioritise its efforts and rationalise operations for artificial intelligence after the recent performance issues and leadership reshuffles.
A big restructure in Meta's AI aspirations
Meta's move for restructuring its AI divisions will come only months after the company consolidated all of its AI ecosystem under the hood of Superintelligence Labs in June 2025. This surfaced after the exit of top AI executives and the lacklustre rollout of the company's open-source Llama 4 language model, which was unable to create the desired market buzz, as expected by the company.
The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has earlier laid out Meta's ambitious agenda to invest hundreds of trillions of dollars constructing enormous AI data centres to fuel its next-generation advanced AI systems. But in the latest round of layoffs, it was indicated that there would be a rewriting of priorities and resources in the company's AI research roadmap.
Meta's AI journey: From FAIR to Superintelligence
Meta started its AI journey back in 2013, when it established the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (known as FAIR) organisation. It appointed computer science superstar Yann LeCun as its Chief AI scientist, and the FAIR group made Meta a pioneer in deep learning research. It further established the foundation for most of the company's ongoing AI projects.
Nonetheless, the new internal reorganisation shows a transition from research for its own sake to applied AI development and commercial-scale innovation, making Meta's AI ambitions align with its overall business aspirations within Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
What is the next phase in AI development?
Even if Meta undergoes layoffs, it will still continue to be committed to its long-term vision for AI.
The Superintelligence Labs division is still working on creating futuristic AI systems which could match the likes of Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic.
As Meta is working on integrating its AI divisions, the firm might double down on scaling large infrastructure and model training capabilities, further focusing on efficiency and practical applications.
The recent layoff represents a turning point in Meta's AI transformation, both indicating the difficulty of scaling AI research and demonstrating the company's commitment to remaining competitive within the global artificial intelligence supremacy race.
