Report says Meta may cut up to 15,800 jobs as it spends more on AI

In short: Meta is reportedly preparing layoffs of up to about 15,800 people while shifting more money and staff toward artificial intelligence.

What happened

Meta may cut up to 15,800 roles, which is about 20% of its roughly 79,000 employees, according to a report published March 25. The planned cuts are described as a way to redirect resources toward AI projects.

Reports say the layoffs focus on areas Meta views as less central, including some middle management roles and teams in Reality Labs. They also include parts of content moderation, advertising, and user support, where AI tools can take over tasks that people used to do. Meta has already made smaller cuts in these areas, including about 1,500 roles in Reality Labs in January 2026 and about 600 roles in its FAIR research group in October 2025.

The same reports say Meta plans very large spending on AI in 2026, estimated at $115 billion to $135 billion in capital expenditures. Capital expenditures means big purchases like building data centers and buying large numbers of specialized chips called GPUs (graphics processing units, the heavy duty chips often used to train AI, like adding more engines to a factory).

Some analysts describe this as AI driven efficiency, not just simple cost cutting. Meta shares rose about 2% to 3% on the news, and the expected savings were described as about $5 billion per year.

Separately, the additional context mentions a new stock program for executives. However, the source reporting summarized here does not confirm details of a new executive stock program tied to these layoffs.

Why it matters

This is part of a wider pattern where big companies are using AI to do more work with fewer people, especially in support and management roles. If Meta follows through, it could affect how quickly customer support, safety checks, and ad systems shift from humans to software.

Source: NYTimes