Meta Leadership Addresses Low Morale and AI Restructuring Missteps Meta’s high-speed pivot to artificial intelligence has collided with its workforce, leaving employees demoralized and leaders openly conceding they mishandled the overhaul.

The AI pivot and mass reshuffle

Over the past couple of years, Meta has poured billions into AI, culminating in a sweeping reorganization this spring that aimed to make the company “AI‑native.” In May, Meta laid off about 10% of its workforce globally while transferring around 7,000 employees into new AI-related roles focused on model training and workflows.

Parallel reporting indicates that between 30% and 50% of engineers on core product, infrastructure, and security teams were reassigned into a massive internal data-labeling and reinforcement learning group, now housing roughly 6,500 people. Many of these transfers were mandatory, leading affected staff to describe themselves as “draftees.”

Revolt inside Applied AI

Tensions peaked inside the Applied AI unit, the newly built engine for Meta’s AI ambitions. One employee hijacked a company-wide livestream to denounce a senior executive, a dramatic signal of how “badly things have soured” in the 6,500-person unit created in March to power Meta’s most expensive AI bet. Some workers likened the reassignment to being sent to “literally the gulag,” saying they suddenly felt they had “zero purpose in life.”

Leadership acknowledges missteps and low morale

Internally, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that “given the complexity of these changes, we’ve made mistakes and will almost certainly make more,” while insisting he remains focused on providing “as much stability as possible” after consecutive layoffs and transfers. He told staff Meta does not expect further company-wide layoffs this year and pledged to find “important new roles” for employees moved into model-training work, with options to transfer some back if needed.

Chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth has been even more blunt. In a June 2 internal talk, he said morale at Meta is “maybe not the worst it’s ever been in 20 years here, but it’s probably up there,” calling it “probably one of the worst it’s ever been,” second only to the Cambridge Analytica crisis. Following the backlash, Bosworth circulated a memo stressing Meta must be “the best place for the best people to do their best work” and promising efforts to “rekindle the best of the culture” that originally attracted employees.

To repair trust, Zuckerberg has signaled more investment in team-building, including higher budgets for offsites, corporate events, and a large collaborative AI hackathon in July. Whether those steps can counteract the shock of layoffs, forced reassignments, and a reshaped hierarchy remains an open question for one of the world’s biggest AI bets.

[1] Did Mark Zuckerberg Make Mistakes in Meta AI Restructure? — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits “we’ve made mistakes” in the rapid AI-native reorganisation, after layoffs and shifting 7,000 staff to AI initiatives.

[2] Inside the revolt at Meta’s Applied AI unit — Report details dysfunction in Meta’s 6,500-person Applied AI unit, mandatory “draft” into data-labeling work, and employees comparing the situation to “literally the gulag.”

[3] Meta’s CTO says morale is almost ‘the worst it’s ever been’ — CTO Andrew Bosworth tells staff morale is near an all-time low after layoffs and AI shifts, and outlines plans to improve culture and support employees.

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