Microsoft and Meta are both cutting jobs this week, tying the moves to artificial intelligence as they reshape their workforces — though it’s not clear AI is the only driver.
Meta cutting jobs
Meta says it will lay off about 10% of its workforce — roughly 8,000 workers — next month, as it shifts spending toward major investments in AI.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company told employees the cuts are aimed at improving efficiency and freeing up resources for those investments.
“This is not an easy tradeoff,” Chief People Officer Janelle Gale wrote in a memo, acknowledging the impact on employees who have contributed to the company.
Pushing deeper into AI
Meta is planning to spend up to $135 billion this year on artificial intelligence, part of a broader push to build what it calls “personal superintelligence” for its billions of users.
As Straight Arrow News reported this week, the company has already begun reshaping how work gets done, rolling out tools that track employee activity to help train AI systems, and leaning into smaller teams designed to move faster.
In a memo, Meta’s technology chief Andrew Bosworth said the company is moving toward a model where AI systems do much of the work, with employees overseeing and refining those outputs.
Meta has already made multiple rounds of cuts in recent months, including layoffs earlier this year and performance-based reductions in 2025.
At the end of last year, Meta had about 79,000 employees.
Microsoft offers buyouts
Microsoft, meanwhile, is offering voluntary buyouts to a portion of its U.S. workforce — marking a shift in how the company is restructuring around AI, according to The Wall Street Journal.
About 7% of employees are eligible, according to reporting, with the offer aimed at long-tenured staff.
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said in a memo the company is looking to simplify operations and move faster as it invests more heavily in artificial intelligence.
Microsoft has roughly 125,000 employees in the U.S. and more than 220,000 globally.
Not just about AI
While both companies are tying these moves to artificial intelligence, AI alone may not fully explain the cuts. Companies across the tech sector have also been under pressure to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve margins.
Some analysts, along with comments from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, point to a broader trend often described as “AI-washing,” where companies frame layoffs around AI even when other financial factors are at play.
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