Meta Cut 8,000 Jobs This Year, But Zuckerberg Says AI Is Creating More

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that artificial intelligence has created more jobs than it has eliminated, even as his own company laid off 8,000 employees this year as part of an AI-focused restructuring, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking to the publication, hours before Meta's June quarter earnings, Zuckerberg said "all the work around AI has net created a lot of jobs because there's all this infrastructure that needs to get created." He added that fears of mass job displacement due to AI have not "played out the way that people feared it might."

Meta laid off 8,000 employees, about 10% of its workforce, in May as part of an AI-first restructuring. The company also reassigned another 7,000 employees to AI-related initiatives. Meta is on track to spend between $130 billion and $145 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026, roughly double what it spent the previous year, the report said.

The Jobs Being Created

Zuckerberg's argument centres on the physical infrastructure needed to support AI. Meta operates or is building 32 data centres worldwide and plans to double its computing power to 7 gigawatts this year, followed by another doubling to 14 gigawatts in 2027. Facilities of this scale require construction crews, electricians, cooling engineers and power infrastructure workers, the report said.

Big Tech's combined AI spending is projected to cross $700 billion in 2026. Alphabet has guided for $205 billion in AI spending, while Microsoft has guided for approximately $175 billion, according to the report.

Inside Meta, A Different Picture

The layoffs at Meta began with emails sent at 4 am in Singapore on May 20 and continued westward through Britain and the United States. At least one employee who had been hired within the previous month was among those let go, the report said.

Even before the layoffs, more than 1,000 Meta employees had signed a petition against a company programme that records keystrokes, mouse movements and screen activity to train Meta's AI models, with no opt-out option available on corporate laptops. Employees assigned to Meta's new Applied AI and Engineering team were informed in writing that participation in the initiative was mandatory, the report added.

Meta's second-quarter free cash flow fell 91% to $784 million, its lowest level since late 2022. The company's shares fell 10% in extended trading despite revenue rising 28% to $60.8 billion, the report said.

Zuckerberg told analysts that Meta is receiving offers to lease its computing capacity "at a significant premium" to what the company paid for it, and is reportedly in early discussions with Anthropic. However, he said it "would be foolish" to sell off computing capacity for short-term profit, given that Meta needs it to train models and build AI agents. "My personal bet is that the people who invest in this are going to be rewarded," he said.