Meta's AI-Driven Workforce Restructuring Plan Faces Setbacks

Meta explored a major transformation of its workforce as it pursued an "AI-native" future, according to internal documents and people familiar with the company's plans.

The initiative, internally known as Project OT, was developed to redesign how work was carried out across the company. The plan envisioned artificial intelligence and autonomous AI agents taking on a larger share of everyday tasks, while smaller groups of human employees would oversee and manage the work.

As part of planning exercises, Meta considered scenarios in which the size of some teams could be reduced by as much as 60%. The restructuring was expected to involve a combination of layoffs, employee redeployments, closures of open positions and performance-related exits.

Internal plans outlined two possible phases of restructuring. The first was scheduled for May, followed by another round later in the year.

However, Meta changed course before the first round of layoffs. The company proceeded with a workforce reduction of about 10% in May, but planning for the later round of cuts was canceled.

The proposed transformation had created significant concern among employees, many of whom believed the company's AI initiatives could eventually replace human workers. Employee sentiment also declined during the restructuring process.

At the same time, internal information indicated that the AI agent technology central to the strategy was not yet producing the expected productivity improvements. AI tools contributed to a sharp increase in the amount of code being generated, but the increase did not translate proportionally into new or improved features for users.

Internal warnings also raised concerns about technical and security problems linked to the growing use of AI agents. Employees reported spending more time addressing disruptions and other issues.

Meta later paused some of its more controversial initiatives and took steps to improve employee morale. Some workers who had been moved into new AI-focused roles were allowed to return to their previous teams.

Meta confirmed the existence of Project OT and said it was a year-long effort focused on reducing costs, redesigning team structures and moving employees into priority areas, including work related to AI training data.

The company said some scenarios considered reducing the size of certain teams by up to 60%, but stressed that there was never a plan to cut 60% of Meta's entire workforce. Meta also said the planning exercises included both layoffs and redeployment of employees, and that not every proposed scenario was implemented.

The company has continued to promote AI as a tool for reshaping how people work. However, the experience with Project OT highlighted the challenges of rapidly reorganizing a large workforce around emerging AI technology.