With Meta investing more on artificial intelligence and shifting major focus to its AI development division, it is not surprising that it is trimming its workforce. As per media reports, this week will see 10 per cent of Meta’s Reality Labs team being let go, primarily from the metaverse section.
Times reports that Andrew Bosworth, who leads the Reality Labs team has called for a very “urgent” meeting where he wants in-person attendance. It is pertinent to mention here that the Reality Labs team is about 15,000 strong.
Reports suggest that with Meta Ray Ban smart glasses meeting with unprecedented success, takers for VR headsets have decreased. As a result, the metaverse division has been facing tough times for a while now. Many users feel that the VR social platform is no more attractive. That is probably why Meta’s focus has shifted to AI development. Also, not long ago, there were reports that Meta is looking to reduce metaverse costs by about 30 per cent.
That AI has become priority at Meta is also clear from the Meta Superintelligence team, which was put together by pulling the best AI talent from competition in 2025.
In November last year, Meta had revealed that it was preparing to make AI usage a core part of employee performance evaluations starting in 2026. The news had raised concerns because a study by researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Peking University had pointed out a troubling pattern: when men and women use AI to produce identical work, women are consistently rated as less competent and viewed as making a smaller contribution.
