Meta CEO Zuckerberg Cancels Last-Minute Plan to Cut 60% of Staff for AI Shift

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned a drastic workforce reduction of up to 60% across many teams, replacing employees with artificial intelligence in a two-phase layoff process. The initiative, known internally as "Project OT" (Organization Transformation), was set to begin in May 2023 but was abruptly canceled hours before implementation due to internal employee resistance and concerns about the AI technology's effectiveness.

The plan originated during Meta's leadership meeting in January 2023 in Hawaii, aiming to transform the company by substituting much of the daily work with AI agents overseen by a small group of skilled engineers. The layoffs were scheduled in two waves: the first in May and the second in November. Although Meta proceeded with a 10% workforce cut in May, the more extensive layoffs planned for November were scrapped.

Internal reviews revealed that the autonomous AI agents central to the strategy failed to deliver the expected productivity gains, while security incidents increased by about 40% compared to the previous year. Employee morale plummeted amid demands to install monitoring software tracking keyboard and mouse activity, which sparked widespread backlash. Following these developments, Zuckerberg acknowledged the AI rollout had not accelerated as hoped and shifted focus toward improving employee engagement and company culture.

Meta confirmed the existence of "Project OT" as a year-long effort to reduce costs, restructure teams, and redeploy staff to priority projects but denied intentions to cut 60% of the entire workforce. The company emphasized that scenario planning exercises were exploratory and not definitive plans. Despite setbacks, Meta continues investing heavily in AI and talent retention, aiming for a future where personal AI assistants become commonplace within five years.

Summary: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned to cut up to 60% of staff to replace them with AI but canceled the layoffs last minute due to employee revolt and underperforming AI technology. The company proceeded with smaller layoffs and is now focusing on improving morale and refining its AI strategy.

Points: - Zuckerberg planned to cut 60% of Meta staff in two waves starting May 2023, replacing jobs with AI. - The first wave in May cut 10%, but the larger November layoffs were canceled last minute. - Internal resistance and poor AI performance led to scrapping the massive layoffs. - AI agents failed to boost productivity and caused a 40% rise in security incidents. - Meta confirmed "Project OT" but denied intentions to cut 60% of all employees. - Zuckerberg admitted AI rollout was slower than expected and shifted focus to morale.

Topic: tech israel_relevant: false Entities: {"people":["Mark Zuckerberg","Alex Schultz","Naomi Gleit","Ima Archibong"],"organizations":["Meta"],"places":["Hawaii","London"]}