Meta AI Agent Progress Slower Than Expected, Zuckerberg Tells Employees

Meta’s ambition to replace more workplace tasks with artificial intelligence appears to be progressing more slowly than expected, according to comments reportedly made by CEO Mark Zuckerberg during an internal company meeting.

Reuters reported that, during a town hall on Thursday, Zuckerberg told employees that the development of AI agents had not “accelerated in the way” company executives had originally anticipated.

Earlier this year, Meta reduced its workforce by around 8,000 employees, representing roughly 10% of its corporate staff, while reassigning another 7,000 employees to various artificial intelligence teams, including a division known as Agent Transformation, according to a previous Bloomberg report.

During this week’s meeting, Zuckerberg reportedly addressed those workforce reductions, acknowledging that the restructuring had not been as “clean” as the company had hoped. He said the layoffs were driven by concerns among senior leadership that Meta might not adapt quickly enough to the rapidly changing technology landscape.

Zuckerberg also reportedly admitted that the expected benefits of Meta’s new AI-focused organisational structure had not yet “come to fruition.” However, he expressed confidence that the company would begin seeing measurable results from its AI investments within the next three to six months.

Meta’s AI division has also been the subject of several investigative reports in recent months, with some engineers reportedly describing the relatively new unit as an extremely demanding work environment.

The company continues to invest aggressively in artificial intelligence despite the slower-than-expected progress. According to Reuters, Meta is expected to spend up to $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year as it expands its computing capacity and accelerates the development of AI-powered products and services.