Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta will lay off about 600 employees within its artificial intelligence unit as the company seeks to reduce layers and operate more agile, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday.
The company announced the cuts in a memo from its chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who was hired in June as part of Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Workers in Meta’s AI infrastructure units, artificial intelligence fundamental research unit, and other product-related positions will be affected.
Axios was first to report the cuts.
Meta has been investing aggressively in AI as it strives to keep pace with competitors like OpenAI and Googleinvesting billions of dollars in infrastructure projects and recruitment.
On Tuesday, the company announced a $27 billion deal with Blue Owl Capital to finance and expand its massive Hyperion data center in rural Louisiana. The data center is expected to be large enough to cover a “significant portion of Manhattan’s footprint,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an article in July.
WATCH: Megacap AI talent war: Meta poaches another senior Apple executive
