New York, August 20: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly considering downsizing its massive artificial intelligence division amid ongoing restructuring led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. According to people familiar with the matter, the division, which has swelled to thousands of employees in recent years, may see job cuts, role eliminations, or staff transfers to other units. Several senior AI executives are also expected to depart as internal tensions grow.

According to a report in New York Times, the shake-up comes just months after Zuckerberg unveiled Meta’s ambitious push into artificial superintelligence, creating a dedicated “superintelligence lab” under Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, who was appointed Meta’s new chief AI officer. The lab, however, has now been split into four groups, each tasked with advancing next-generation “frontier models.” In a significant pivot, the company has abandoned its previous frontier model, Behemoth, after disappointing performance, and will start from scratch. Meta Layoffs 2025: Mark Zuckerberg-Run Platform Lays Off Employees Working in Reality Labs Division in Latest Round of Job Cuts.

The restructuring has also fueled debate within Meta over whether to continue its long-standing open-source philosophy or move toward “closed” AI models, keeping key technology proprietary. This shift, along with Meta’s exploration of licensing third-party AI models, marks a departure from its reliance solely on in-house systems. Meta Layoffs: Laid-Off Employees Push Back Against ‘Low Performer’ Label and Say It Was Part of Business Strategy Not Performance, Says Reports.

Meta has been spending aggressively to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google, investing USD 14.3 billion in Scale AI, offering nine-figure packages to top researchers, and committing up to USD 72 billion this year in capital expenditures, mostly for data centers and AI research. Yet, the rapid influx of new hires has unsettled some long-time employees, sparking friction between old guard teams and Wang’s recruits.

As the global AI race intensifies, Meta’s restructuring signals both opportunity and risk. While Zuckerberg bets on superintelligence to define the company’s future, looming layoffs and internal divides may complicate its path forward.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2025 09:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).