Meta Leadership Addresses 'Soul-Crushing' Morale in AI Division

Meta Leadership Addresses ‘Soul-Crushing’ Morale in AI Division Meta’s aggressive pivot to artificial intelligence has left thousands of employees caught between a high‑stakes technological bet and a steep decline in workplace morale, now openly acknowledged by top leadership.

Early restructuring and growing unrest

In May 2026, Meta laid off around 10% of its global workforce while funnelling billions into AI, then reassigned roughly another 10% — about 7,000 people — into AI model training and related workflows. Many of these staff were moved into a months‑old AI unit that some engineers have described as a “soul‑crushing gulag,” with the 6,500‑person division said to be “on the verge of revolt.”

As the new AI structures took shape, Meta also experimented with an extremely flat hierarchy, with manager‑to‑staff ratios reportedly reaching 50:1 in the Applied AI Engineering unit, creating bottlenecks and frustration.

Leadership acknowledgment of low morale

By early June, the internal mood had deteriorated enough for Chief Technology Officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth to tell employees that morale is “maybe not the worst it’s ever been in 20 years here, but it’s probably up there… probably one of the worst it’s ever been.” He compared the atmosphere to the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, underscoring how deeply the AI reorganization and layoffs have shaken staff.

Zuckerberg’s mea culpa and promised fixes

In a company memo, CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that “given the complexity of these changes, we’ve made mistakes and will almost certainly make more,” while insisting he is focused on “providing as much stability as possible.” He said Meta does not expect further company‑wide layoffs this year and pledged to find “important new roles” for employees reassigned to train AI models, including options to transfer people back if needed.

To repair culture, Zuckerberg and Bosworth have promised more transparency, higher budgets for team‑building events, and a large AI hackathon in July, alongside efforts to “rekindle the best of the culture” and make Meta “the best place for the best people to do their best work.”

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