Meta will cut 10% of its workforce – around 8,000 employees, as it continues to up investments in AI.

The tech firm announced the layoffs in a memo to staff on Thursday, which also said it would not hiring for thousands of jobs it had previously been looking to fill.

AI is a driving factor for the job cuts, as Meta will look to spend about £100 billion on the tech this year, equating to the amount spent on AI in the last three years combined, according to the BBC.

While a Meta spokesperson confirmed the job cuts, they neglected to provide a reason for them.

They come as no surprise, however, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statements early in the year nodded to potential layoffs.

Zuckerberg touted the ability of AI-empowered workers, saying one person could be just as impactful as a team in terms of project delivery. The Facebook founder said he thought “2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way we work.”

This year has already seen two rounds of layoffs from the social media titan, cutting a total of around 2,000 workers. However, staff were already apprehensive of the latest cuts due to reports from Reuters alleging Meta’s plans.

Continuing employees may remain on edge, however, as Meta announced that it would begin tracking employee actions on their devices and keeping logs on their activity as part of its AI training methods, ringing alarm bells on employee replacement and surveillance.

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Meta’s layoffs are certainly on trend in tech, with Amazon laying off 30,000 workers and Oracle giving pink slips to 10,000.

Microsoft is taking a different approach, offering tenured employees voluntary buyouts, but has also cut jobs as a result of other investment priorities.

Firms continue to cite AI as a major driver of workforce restructuring and layoffs, touting its productivity gains, often at a human cost.