--- title: "With the Metaverse Canceled and Zuckerberg Training AI to Run the Company, Meta Is Slashing Its Headcount" description: "Meta CEO Mark Zuckerg, in the midst of training an AI CEO, made the robotically heartless decision to fire even more employees." date: "2026-03-26" modified: "2026-03-26" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-layoffs-zuckerberg-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" --- # With the Metaverse Canceled and Zuckerberg Training AI to Run the Company, Meta Is Slashing Its Headcount ![Mark Zuckerberg wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, with a blurred background of people and a radial blur effect centered on his face.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Jon Putman / Anadolu via Getty Images* Intermittent layoffs are the norm at Meta, but it's now carrying them out as its shift towards building AI — and using it to attempt to speed up its own workforce — becomes more overt than ever. On Wednesday, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company fired around 700 employees, according to [reports from *The New York Times*]() and *[The Information]()*. That number is only a sliver of its global workforce of around 78,000, but largely affected employees in its Reality Labs unit tasked with building a virtual reality "Metaverse," which turned out to be a dismal failure: failing to attract users, let alone supplant our physical reality as Zuckerberg envisioned, it [lost roughly $80 billion](). In January, Meta [fired 10 percent of the Reality Labs unit](), or about 1,500 employees, and this month [waffled on shutting the whole thing down](). In these latest cuts, some of the other firings were in sales, recruiting, and Facebook, signaling that Zuckerberg is separating the chaff in non-AI related units beyond its flailing Metaverse division. Meta characterized the latest firings as routine belt-tightening. "Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they're in the best position to achieve their goals," a Meta spokesman said in a statement, per the *NYT*. "Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted." Perhaps the most poetic symbol of Meta's AI pivot is that Zuckerberg himself [is reportedly training a "CEO AI agent" to help him do his job](), performing duties like quickly retrieving information so Zuckerberg doesn't have to go down the chain of command. The *Wall Street Journal* [scoop]() also detailed how AI evangelism from the top was trickling into every corner of the workforce, with performance reviews now evaluating how employees use AI tools. Many workers are experimenting with their own AI agents, which they deploy to communicate with colleagues, or even their colleagues' AI agents. As the rank and file busy themselves with AI helpers, the c-suite is lining its own pockets. Less than a day before the layoffs were announced, Meta unveiled a new stock program for top executives that could rake in nearly a billion dollars each over the next five years. Per the *NYT* reporting, it allows the executives to buy more Meta stock if the company hits specified growth targets, the most ambitious being Meta reaching a market capitalization of $9 trillion by 2031; its current valuation is $1.5 trillion. Should that come to pass, some of the execs would own stock worth as much as $921 million, according to an analysis by Equilar cited by the *NYT*. It's the first time since the company went public in 2012 that Meta has given its execs stock options. And what's telling is the company's justification: keeping Meta competitive with AI rivals. "This is a big bet," the Meta spokesman said in a statement. "These pay packages will not be realized unless Meta achieves massive future success, benefiting all of our shareholders." There could be more layoffs to come. Insiders [told *Reuters*]() earlier this month that the company is preparing to fire as much as 20 percent of its workforce, or around 15,000 employees. (Meta dismissed the claims as "speculative reporting.") Adding to the unrest, Meta is also facing [strong legal headwinds](). On Tuesday, a New Mexico jury [found that it deliberately violated state law]() by misleading users about the safety of its products, with a judge slapping a $375 million penalty on the company. And in Los Angeles, a court found that Meta, along with Google-owned YouTube, was [responsible for harming a young user]() with addictive design features that caused mental health issues. **More on AI:** [*Rogue AI Agent Triggers Emergency at Meta*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()