Key Takeaways:
Meta's 6,500-person Applied AI unit has become a flashpoint for employee unrest as the company's aggressive artificial intelligence push collides with layoffs, repetitive work, and declining morale.
Meta Platforms Inc.'s push to dominate artificial intelligence is facing resistance from within, as employees in its 6,500-person Applied AI unit describe the work as "soul-crushing" and disconnected from their original roles.
"You have zero purpose in life all of a sudden, you barely interact with anyone, you just have these tasks every week," one employee told WIRED, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The unit, created in March to support Meta's Superintelligence Labs, assigns engineers to generate puzzles and test cases for AI model evaluation rather than building customer-facing products. The restructuring coincided with layoffs affecting roughly 8,000 employees, or 10% of the workforce, according to the report. More than 1,600 workers signed a petition opposing a program that monitors clicks and keystrokes on company devices for AI training purposes.
The turmoil threatens Meta's ability to retain talent in the strategically critical AI division as competitors including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic race to hire engineers. Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox described the recent environment as "brutal" during an internal meeting, while Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in a memo that the company had "made mistakes" during the restructuring.
A Hackathon That Fell Flat
Zuckerberg's attempt to rebuild morale through a companywide AI hackathon scheduled for July 14 to July 16 backfired, with employees pushing back in internal messages seen by WIRED. "I'm literally preoccupied with keeping the lights on for my team," one worker wrote. "I have no incentive to participate, let alone have the time to do so."
Another employee wrote that hackathon efforts would not count toward performance evaluations, making participation feel like an additional burden. "People are being asked to cover more work with less support while their colleagues get laid off," the employee said. Dozens of colleagues reacted with laughs and thumbs-up to a meme inspired by the comedy film "We're the Millers" that read, "You all have the time for a hackathon?"
The Cost of the AI Race
The unrest at Meta illustrates a broader challenge facing the technology industry as companies restructure workforces around AI. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth told staff in an April memo that the company envisions a future where "our agents primarily do the work, and our role is to direct, review and help them improve" — a vision that has left some employees questioning their place in the organization.
For investors, the morale crisis carries tangible risks. Meta is spending billions on AI infrastructure, including Nvidia Corp. H100 GPUs, to build products ranging from AI assistants to smart glasses. If the company cannot retain the engineers needed to develop those products, the return on that investment may suffer. Meta shares have been supported by the AI narrative, but internal dysfunction could slow product timelines and increase turnover costs.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
