Meta is planning to put off round 10% of the workers in its Actuality Labs division, The New York Instances reported Monday.
The division — which employs roughly 15,000 individuals — has a robust presence within the Seattle space and is chargeable for the corporate’s “metaverse” applied sciences that work together with augmented and digital actuality, together with for merchandise equivalent to VR headsets and a VR-based social community.
The Instances cited individuals with data of the layoff discussions, which the newspaper stated come at a time when the corporate is shifting priorities to construct next-generation synthetic intelligence.
A Meta spokesperson declined to remark when reached by GeekWire.
Enterprise Insider reported that Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, the top of Actuality Labs, referred to as an all-hands assembly for Wednesday. Sources instructed BI that staff have been strongly inspired to attend in individual.
Actuality Labs presently represents about 19% of Meta’s whole world workforce of roughly 78,000.
Meta employs hundreds of individuals throughout a number of workplaces within the Seattle area, one among its largest engineering hubs outdoors Menlo Park, Calif. Final October, the corporate laid off greater than 100 staff in Washington state as a part of a broader spherical of cuts inside its synthetic intelligence division.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited a Actuality Labs facility in Redmond in 2022 to show how wearables equivalent to wristbands can management gadgets with small muscle actions.
The Washington State Division of Labor & Industries cited Meta in November 2022 for alleged security violations in a cleanroom at Meta’s “Matrix” facility in Redmond. The specifically designed house was engineered to filter pollution equivalent to mud, airborne microbes, and aerosol particles. In January 2024 the state ordered the room shut down.
