HomeStuck inside Meta's months-old AI unit, engineers call it a soul-crushing gulag
People who work at Meta—or know someone who does—often describe it as an unhappy environment, especially given the ongoing layoffs over the past few years. Those cuts have only intensified as the company pours billions into AI.
A new report from Wired now suggests that Meta's Applied AI team is on the brink of rebellion.
The drama started when someone hijacked a livestreamed, employee-only presentation this week with a profanity-laced outburst, demanding that attendees call a senior Meta AI executive "a piece of sh_t." One presenter reportedly covered their face with their hands.
According to Wired, that outburst reflects deep-seated anger within the three-month-old unit, which comprises roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers tasked with supporting Meta's AI research ambitions.
Employees say they were forced into the group with little real choice: join or quit. Many call themselves "draftees." Their assigned work? Creating puzzles and coding problems to train AI models. "It's literally the gulag," one employee told Wired. "Most people find the work soul-crushing," another said.
Meanwhile, over 1,600 Meta employees across the company have signed a petition protesting a program that monitors their clicks and keystrokes for AI training data. Even Meta's Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, described the current environment as "brutal" during a call with employees this week.
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for comment.
According to earlier reports, the Applied AI team is led by Maher Saba, formerly a vice president in Meta's Reality Labs division—the unit that spent $83 billion on the metaverse before Meta shifted its focus to AI. The new organization reports to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth.
Originally, the structure allowed up to 50 employees to report to a single manager.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly addressed the situation in an internal memo on Friday, acknowledging that recent changes had "caused distress" and admitting the company had made mistakes it plans to address. According to Wired, he added that "Meta's north star is to be the best place for the most talented people in the world to make an impact."
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Comments (1)
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![HaroldJohnson]()
This reads like a dystopian novel where engineers are trapped in an AI sweatshop with no escape. 😅 Meta's 'soul-crushing gulag' is a wild description, but honestly, who's surprised? They've been cutting people while dumping billions into AI. Wonder if the execs ever feel the crunch.
People who work at Meta—or know someone who does—often describe it as an unhappy environment, especially given the ongoing layoffs over the past few years. Those cuts have only intensified as the company pours billions into AI.
A new report from Wired now suggests that Meta's Applied AI team is on the brink of rebellion.
The drama started when someone hijacked a livestreamed, employee-only presentation this week with a profanity-laced outburst, demanding that attendees call a senior Meta AI executive "a piece of sh_t." One presenter reportedly covered their face with their hands.
According to Wired, that outburst reflects deep-seated anger within the three-month-old unit, which comprises roughly 6,500 engineers and product managers tasked with supporting Meta's AI research ambitions.
Employees say they were forced into the group with little real choice: join or quit. Many call themselves "draftees." Their assigned work? Creating puzzles and coding problems to train AI models. "It's literally the gulag," one employee told Wired. "Most people find the work soul-crushing," another said.
Meanwhile, over 1,600 Meta employees across the company have signed a petition protesting a program that monitors their clicks and keystrokes for AI training data. Even Meta's Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, described the current environment as "brutal" during a call with employees this week.
TechCrunch has reached out to Meta for comment.
According to earlier reports, the Applied AI team is led by Maher Saba, formerly a vice president in Meta's Reality Labs division—the unit that spent $83 billion on the metaverse before Meta shifted its focus to AI. The new organization reports to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth.
Originally, the structure allowed up to 50 employees to report to a single manager.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly addressed the situation in an internal memo on Friday, acknowledging that recent changes had "caused distress" and admitting the company had made mistakes it plans to address. According to Wired, he added that "Meta's north star is to be the best place for the most talented people in the world to make an impact."
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This reads like a dystopian novel where engineers are trapped in an AI sweatshop with no escape. 😅 Meta's 'soul-crushing gulag' is a wild description, but honestly, who's surprised? They've been cutting people while dumping billions into AI. Wonder if the execs ever feel the crunch.
