Meta is set to cut around 1,500 jobs from its Reality Labs division — about 10% of the team — as early as this week, marking a major shift toward artificial intelligence.
The layoffs are expected to affect teams working on VR headsets and Meta’s virtual-reality social platform, even as the company pours billions into AI research, data centers, and smart-glasses projects, according to the New York Times.
Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth has called an in-person all-hands meeting for Wednesday, describing it internally as the most important meeting of the year, sources told Business Insider.
The move comes after Reality Labs accumulated more than $70 billion in losses since 2020, putting pressure on CEO Mark Zuckerberg to rein in costs while aggressively investing in AI — including funding efforts to build what he has called “superintelligence.”
To fuel that push, Meta has been offering major compensation packages to top AI talent and making costly acquisitions, including a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI in 2025 and a $2 billion deal for AI startup Manus.
At the same time, Meta is overhauling its performance system with a new program called Checkpoint, sharply increasing rewards for top performers while raising the bar across the company.
The changes, set to take effect in 2026, tighten standards on bonuses and promotions as Meta restructures and leans harder into a results-driven culture.