Meta’s AI staff revolt after layoffs, surveillance plan and internal turmoil

Meta’s AI division is facing intense internal anger after last month’s layoffs and a new round of management changes. During a live internal presentation this week, an employee interrupted the session and told presenters to pass along a message to a senior AI executive that “he is a piece of shit,” according to a recording obtained by WIRED.

Several employees described the atmosphere as bleak and draining. One told WIRED it felt like “a gulag,” saying workers have little sense of purpose beyond weekly tasks. Another called the job “mechanical and uncreative,” while a third said many feel the work is “soul draining.” The frustration is centered on Applied AI, a team created in March with about 6,500 engineers and product managers to support researchers in Meta Superintelligence Labs. Some staff selected for the unit say they were effectively forced to join or leave, and they are assigned difficult programming problems used to train AI models.

The unrest comes after Meta cut about 8,000 jobs last month, including dozens in Israel, roughly 10% of its workforce. The reductions have added pressure in other areas, including data center engineering and Instagram. More than 1,600 employees also signed a petition opposing a company plan to monitor workers’ clicks and keyboard activity in the U.S. for model training. Meta later softened the idea, allowing workers to pause data collection for up to 30 minutes.

Senior executives have acknowledged the strain. In an internal Instagram meeting, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox compared the period to “a marathon in the middle of a hailstorm,” and said the company is dealing at once with reorganization, business pressure and rapid AI adoption. He also said, “It’s just, what the fuck?” and urged leadership not to become “too enthusiastic” about AI, adding, “It’s not God and it’s not the devil.”

In a Friday memo, Mark Zuckerberg said the restructuring had caused distress, writing, “Given the complexity of these changes, we made mistakes and almost certainly will make more,” and promised no further mass layoffs this year. He also said Applied AI is a “transition station” and that highly skilled employees could move to other roles in the coming months. Meta declined to comment to WIRED.