Meta and Microsoft are shrinking their workforces while ramping up spending on artificial intelligence, underscoring how Big Tech is recasting operations around automation. Meta told employees it will cut roughly 10% of staff—about 8,000 jobs—and close around 6,000 open roles to “offset” other investments, following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to pour $115 billion to $135 billion into AI. Microsoft said it will offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of its U.S. staff, particularly long-tenured employees, as the company boosts AI infrastructure spending that analysts peg at $110 billion to $120 billion this fiscal year.
Executives argue AI is already lifting productivity, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saying AI now handles up to 30% of the company’s coding and Zuckerberg projecting that about half of Meta’s development could soon be done by AI. Workers fear replacement rather than reassignment, concerns stoked by reports that Meta is installing software to log employee inputs for AI training data. The moves mirror broader tech belt-tightening amid an AI arms race: Jack Dorsey’s Block slashed nearly half its staff, Amazon has cut tens of thousands of roles while pledging massive AI outlays, and Oracle is trimming jobs as it finances new data centers. Whether the escalating bets in AI will deliver the expected payoff remains an open question.
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