MENLO PARK, CALIF. — Meta began a reorganization on Wednesday that will cut about 8,000 jobs and reassign 7,000 employees to new teams focused on artificial intelligence. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had outlined the workforce reduction in an internal memo last month, saying it would lay off around 10% of its staff in May.

An internal memo said those 7,000 employees will be shifted to four new teams building AI tools and apps. Affected employees have been notified, company spokesperson Erica Sackin said. Meta previously said laid-off workers would receive severance packages with at least 16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks for each additional year of employment, along with health care and career support benefits.

Meta is expected to cut additional roles later this year, though the timing and scope remain unclear. The company cut more than 20,000 jobs across its operations in 2022 and 2023, and has been pulling back from the virtual reality Metaverse it launched in 2021.

Meta and other large technology companies have invested in artificial intelligence initiatives, offering large pay packages to attract talent and building data centers costing billions of dollars. In January, Meta forecast capital expenditures this year that are almost double what it spent last year, announcing planned capital expenditures of $145 billion — more than twice the amount spent in 2025. The company lags behind competitors such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in the AI race.

Multiple technology companies have announced job cuts in recent months linked to increased focus and spending on artificial intelligence. Microsoft, Block, Coinbase and Cisco are among the firms that have recently announced layoffs or buyouts tied to AI. According to reports from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the technology sector experienced more than 52,000 layoffs in the first three months of 2026, a 40% increase from the same period last year, with AI cited as a top driving factor.