Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees at a July 2 town hall that the company's AI agent development "hasn't really accelerated in the way that we expected" over the prior four months, according to a recording heard by Reuters. He acknowledged the sweeping reorganization behind the comments wasn't as "clean" as planned.
The admission comes two months after Meta cut roughly 8,000 jobs — about 10% of its then-80,000-person workforce — hitting integrity, cybersecurity, content design and Reality Labs teams hardest while shielding AI infrastructure and monetization groups. Nearly 7,000 of the affected workers were redirected into new AI-focused teams instead of losing their jobs outright. Laid-off US staff received 16 weeks of severance plus two weeks per year of tenure, with health coverage extended 18 months.
The reshuffle sits atop a massive capital bet: Meta has committed $125-145 billion in 2026 capital expenditure, more than double last year's $72.2 billion, almost entirely aimed at AI compute and data centers. Zuckerberg told staff he still expects meaningful benefits within three to six months, even as internal morale metrics — Meta's Blind employee rating is down 25% from its 2024 peak — show growing unease about the payoff.