Meta is canceling hiring plans for 6,000 roles and shifting 7,000 employees into artificial intelligence workflow-related positions. The company is also carrying out layoffs affecting about 10 percent of its global workforce, roughly 8,000 people. The layoffs begin in three waves, with the first wave starting at 4am local time for affected workers. Workers impacted include members of the integrity team, cybersecurity teams, and the content design division. In the United States, severance includes 16 weeks of pay plus two additional weeks for each year employed. Meta’s AI tracking programme has contributed to low morale, with workers raising concerns about data collection and the use of US staff to train AI models.
"Meta cancels hiring plans for 6,000 roles amid ongoing layoffs and a pivot to artificial intelligence development. Meta has launched a wave of layoffs that will affect 10 percent of the company's global workforce, representing about 8,000 people. The cuts, which began on Wednesday, are planned to occur in three waves, beginning at 4am local time for those affected, the Reuters news agency reported."
"Workers affected so far include those on the company's integrity team the group in charge of removing malicious content and hate speech as well as members of the company's cybersecurity teams and content design division, according to reporting from Business Insider. Workers in the United States will receive 16 weeks of severance pay, in addition to an extra two weeks for every year they have been employed at the company, representatives for Meta confirmed to Al Jazeera."
"In addition to the cuts, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram said it would cancel plans to hire 6,000 people and shift 7,000 other employees into artificial intelligence (AI) workflow-related roles. This comes amid reports of declining morale at the Mark Zuckerberg-led company following the launch of an AI tracking programme for workers in an effort for Meta to train its own AI models, a point of contention for workers, the Wall Street Journal reported."
"According to the paper, more than 1,500 people signed a petition demanding that the company not collect their data. The move is part of a series of issues affecting morale, with one unnamed policy employee telling Wired that morale is low in part because its US workforce is being used to train the AI models that will replace them. Another point of concern is decreased spending on workers, including cuts to annual raises and median total compensation falling by nearly $30,000."
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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