Remember when Meta laid off 8,000 people in May, citing an AI push, and moved another 7,000 employees into AI-focused roles? At the time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said (in an internal memo) that “AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes," and that "the companies that lead the way will define the next generation.“
Well, it appears one company that "led the way" is having second thoughts.
In an internal town hall on Thursday, examined by Reuters, Zuckerberg admitted that AI agents had not progressed as quickly as he had expected.
Additionally, according to the report, the CEO said that Meta's AI-related restructuring wasn't as "clean" as it could have been, and that Meta execs miscalculated the timing of the changes. Apparently some of the "top people" at Meta were worried, early this year, that Meta isn't adapting to the new, AI-driven world fast enough.
Hopefully there were some humans listening to him in that town hall.
Meta's actions resulted in a company-wide backlash over AI-related employee tracking, as well as reported low employee morale, which Meta addressed with snacks, among other measures.
Meta isn't exactly changing course, though. Zuckerberg reportedly expects more significant benefits from its AI investments within the next three to six months. We've got snacks over here, and we're waiting.
