Meta cuts 600 jobs at AI Superintelligence Labs while protecting its highest-paid new hires
Oct 22, 2025
Key Points
- Meta cuts 600 jobs from its 3,000-person AI division, targeting organizational bloat while explicitly protecting newly hired researchers earning hundreds of millions in compensation.
- TBD Lab, Meta's separate unit housing premium AI talent, operates behind restricted security badges that physically isolate employees from the broader research group.
- Meta blocks access to non-Meta chatbots including ChatGPT on WhatsApp starting next year, affecting 3 billion users and eliminating an alternative access point that served 50 million primary ChatGPT users.
Summary
Meta cut approximately 600 jobs from its AI Superintelligence Labs division on Wednesday, according to a memo relayed to the New York Times. The layoffs targeted organizational bloat accumulated during three years of rapid AI hiring but explicitly protected the company's newest high-paid AI researchers, many of whom work in a separate unit called TBD Lab and earn hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation packages.
The AI division employs around 3,000 people. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an aggressive hiring spree to recruit top researchers, including appointing Alex Wang as Meta's new chief AI officer. The cuts suggest Meta is recalibrating after overexpanding too quickly, even as it competes fiercely with other companies for AI talent and capability.
The protection of new hires creates visible internal hierarchy. TBD Lab employees have separate security badges restricting access to their designated research areas, physically separating them from the broader AI research group. Meta is shedding headcount in established research while ring-fencing newly acquired talent at premium compensation levels.
WhatsApp and ChatGPT access
Meta also announced it will cut off access to non-Meta chatbots like ChatGPT on WhatsApp starting next year. The move affects 3 billion WhatsApp users. Around 50 million people were primarily using ChatGPT through the messaging app, according to Meta's disclosures. OpenAI's Kevin Weil, vice president of science, criticized the decision, noting the loss of an alternative access point for users, including a +1-800 calling feature that allowed WhatsApp users to interact with ChatGPT when traveling without internet access.