By Kashmira Konduparty
Meta detailed its layoffs plan for May 20 in a memo shared with employees on Monday, as the company accelerates its push into artificial intelligence. According to internal documents reviewed by Reuters, the company aims to cut about 10% of its workforce this week while reorganizing teams around AI-focused operations.
Reuters previously reported that Meta’s workforce reductions and transfers could eventually affect nearly 20% of employees by the end of the year. The company employed 77,986 workers as of March 2026. Layoff notifications are reportedly scheduled to begin from May 20 in multiple global waves.
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Meta plans to move around 7,000 employees to AI-related initiatives and eliminate many managerial roles. Janelle Gale, the Meta Chief People Officer said, “As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles to their new org structures. We’re now at a stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership.”
The new divisions include Applied AI Engineering (AAI), Agent Transformation Accelerator (ATA) XFN and Central Analytics. The restructuring is aimed at building “AI-native” organizational systems with smaller and faster moving teams.
CEO Mark Zuckerburg has aggressively expanded Meta’s AI investments to compete with rivals including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. Meta is investing heavily in AI models, data centers and AI agents designed to automate workplace tasks. Reuters previously reported that the company plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure by 2028.
The restructuring plans have reportedly triggered internal criticism from employees. More than 1,000 workers signed a petition opposing the company’s use of mouse-tracking software designed to train AI systems. Employees also criticized the company leadership for remaining silent about layoffs for weeks after Reuters first reported them.
Meta’s restructuring reflects a broader trend across the technology industry as companies increasingly use AI to automate tasks and reduce labor costs. Companies including Amazon, Cloudflare and Block have also announced AI related layoffs or restructuring this year.
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Employees in North America have been instructed to work remotely during the layoffs. Meta has also reportedly closed around 6,000 open job positions as part of the restructuring effort. Internal memos described the goal as creating flatter organizational structures with greater employee ownership and faster decision making.
Meta’s restructuring highlights how rapidly artificial intelligence is reshaping the technology workforce and corporate operations. As major companies continue to invest heavily in AI systems, concerns over automation, job security and workplace transparency are becoming increasingly central across the tech industry.