American entrepreneur Zach Wilson claimed on X that Meta reached out to him for an interview for a major position the same week the company decided to lay off 8,000 employees because of artificial intelligence. Wilson said he was confident at least one of the 8,000 employees had the qualities for the position he had been approached about, but the company was not retaining any.“Why should the company expect us to be loyal to them if they don’t even try to keep us when they have hundreds of billions of dollars at their disposal? It would be cheaper financially for them to keep one of those 8,000 employees. It would also be cheaper emotionally for those who are being laid off,” Wilson wrote in his now-viral post.“How these big tech companies expect people to put their blood, sweat, and tears into their jobs while saying, ‘Yeah, we’re going to lay you off at any time.’ I don’t know. The culture around AI and layoffs has become incredibly toxic,” he wrote.Meta announced the massive layoffs to employees via an email, saying the layoffs were part of an “ongoing effort to run the company more efficiently” and thanking them for their contributions to Meta. On Wednesday, about 10% of Meta’s 78,000 employees began receiving notices that they would be laid off.“As previously shared, we have decided to reduce headcount as part of our ongoing efforts to run the company more efficiently and allow us to offset other investments we are making. Unfortunately, as part of today’s reorganization, your role has been eliminated. Before sharing more details, we would like to thank you for all your contributions to Meta. We appreciate the important role you have played in the company’s growth,” the email said before detailing notice periods, leave, severance, and more.
