Meta scaled back Project OT after AI workforce plan sparked revolt

Meta canceled the second phase of a workforce overhaul after employees resisted a plan to reorganize teams around artificial intelligence, Reuters reported.

Code-named Project OT, short for Organization Transformation, the plan envisioned AI taking over much of the daily work performed by thousands of employees. 

Smaller groups of human staff would oversee the company’s virtual workers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters and people familiar with the project.

Executives considered reducing the size of some teams by as much as 60% in two waves. The first wave arrived in May, when Meta cut 10% of its workforce, but the company called off plans for further cuts scheduled for November.

Employees had grown concerned that Meta’s AI initiatives were intended to replace them. Internal data also suggested that autonomous AI agents were not delivering the productivity gains expected by company leaders, Reuters reported.

Meta confirmed Project OT and described it as a year-long effort to cut costs, redesign team structures and move employees into priority areas such as producing training data. 

The company said the scenarios involved both layoffs and redeployments and did not mean cutting 60% of its entire workforce.

Meta said leaders canceled the second wave before determining how many employees would lose their jobs overall.