Meta Abandons Aggressive Plan to Replace Employees with AI
In early 2026, Meta (ticker: META) initiated an internal project called Project OT aimed at replacing thousands of employees with artificial intelligence. The plan involved two waves of restructuring and potential job cuts as high as 60% in some teams. However, the initiative was scaled back after concerns emerged about AI's effectiveness in delivering visible product improvements to users. Meta initially planned a first wave of layoffs starting in May but canceled it hours before implementation. Instead, around 8,000 jobs were cut—about 10% of its workforce—in late May. The second round scheduled for November was also scrapped. Internal data showed that while AI increased code generation by 220%, user-facing feature improvements only rose by 36%. This productivity gap and the use of employee-tracking software led to staff resistance. Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, faced internal pushback over how the transition was managed. The company described Project OT as a cost-cutting initiative focused on restructuring teams and shifting priorities toward AI training data production.
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