Meta begins laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of staff, in a push to become an AI-first company; another 7,000 workers will be reassigned to AI initiatives (New York Times)

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/technology/meta-layoffs-ai.html"><img align="RIGHT" border="0" hspace="4" src="http://www.techmeme.com/260519/i56.jpg" vspace="4" /></a> <p><a href="https://www.techmeme.com/260519/p56#a260519p56" title="Techmeme permalink"><img height="12" src="http://www.techmeme.com/img/pml.png" style="border: none; padding: 0; margin: 0;" width="11" /></a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a>:<br /> <span style="font-size: 1.3em;"><b><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/technology/meta-layoffs-ai.html">Meta begins laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of staff, in a push to become an AI-first company; another 7,000 workers will be reassigned to AI initiatives</a></b></span>&nbsp; &mdash;&nbsp; Meta told employees last month that it would carry out mass layoffs on May 20, as the Silicon Valley giant tries to transform into an A.I.-first company.</p>