--- title: "Meta Freezes AI Hiring as Fear Spreads" description: "Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has confirmed that it's freezing all hiring in its artificial intelligence division." date: "2025-08-21" modified: "2025-08-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/meta-freezes-ai-hiring-fear" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "llama" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" --- # Meta Freezes AI Hiring as Fear Spreads ![Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has confirmed that it's freezing all hiring in its artificial intelligence division.]() *\Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images\* Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is freezing all hiring in its artificial intelligence division. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), the company characterized the hiring freeze as "basic organizational planning," coinciding with a broader restructuring of its AI division's leadership. It's a notable admission that comes as Zuckerberg has been desperately offering key talent [mind-boggling financial offers](), reportedly reaching $1 billion — with [seriously mixed results]() — that highlight its frantic attempts to catch up in the AI race. Analysts, however, have balked at the CEO's costly attempts to poach workers from competing AI firms, per the *WSJ*, raising concerns that compensating them with enormous stock offers could undercut shareholder returns. The AI industry as a whole is facing a critical juncture, with mounting concerns contributing to a [massive tech selloff]() roiling the stock market this week. Shares of AI tech stalwarts, including Nvidia and Palantir, [have plummeted]() — raising concerns that the hype had driven their valuations too high for the shaky realities of their current tech. As part of the company's restructuring, Meta's so-called Superintelligence Labs will now house four different divisions. One department, dubbed AGI Foundations, which worked on the company's latest Llama large language models, was dissolved. A disastrous April release of its "Behemoth" AI model [drew widespread criticism]() and [accusations of fudging benchmarks]() to make it look more capable than it really is. At least three members of the AGI Foundations team announced they were leaving Meta, the *WSJ* reports. Up until the hiring freeze, Meta added over 50 new employees for its AI efforts, including 20 researchers and engineers from OpenAI, and at least 13 from Google. But whether the company — and the AI industry as a whole — will ultimately justify the hiring spree remains to be seen. Firms are still spending tens of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure buildouts that broadly eclipse actual revenue. For his part, Zuckerberg remains adamant that his new team will deliver, [claiming]() that "automating all valuable work" will put "power in people's hands to direct it towards what they value in their own lives." **More on Meta:** *[Zuckerberg Is So Loathed That He Needs to Pay People Huge Extra Sums to Work for Him]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()