Facebook owner Meta is laying off 600 employees in its artificial intelligence division, a move to streamline operations following a massive hiring spree, US media reported Wednesday.

The TBD Lab, an operation established by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, will not be impacted by the job cuts, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The lab’s workforce rapidly expanded through the poaching of prominent researchers with high compensation packages from competitors like OpenAI and Apple. 

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the layoffs will target teams working on AI projects and infrastructure to increase efficiency. Many of the impacted employees may be transferred to another location by the company, according to the report.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta has halted hiring for its AI branch. A company representative told Reuters that Meta is conducting annual budgeting and planning activities and that the freeze is a part of its fundamental organizational planning.

Major companies that have cut AI-related roles

Meta is not the only company cutting off employees in its AI division. Check out the other big companies that have eliminated or increased AI-related positions. 

Google
Google reportedly fired more than 200 contractors, including Gemini and AI Overviews, who were involved in its artificial intelligence initiatives in September. The reported layoffs come at a time when Google is investing heavily in AI to stay competitive with rivals like OpenAI and Microsoft.

Tata Consultancy Services
India’s largest IT services company TCS in October laid off one per cent or 6,000 people from its workforce as part of a restructuring exercise it had started. TCS announced in July this year that it would lay off about two per cent or 12,261 employees of its global workforce this year.

Amazon
Amazon.com Inc. plans to replace more than half a million jobs in the US with robots, the New York Times reported. According to the report, America’s second largest employer is on the cusp of the its next big workplace shift.

Accenture
In the last three months, Accenture has laid off almost 11,000 employees worldwide and it has hinted that additional layoffs may occur if workers are unable to be retrained for the era of artificial intelligence. 

Salesforce
Salesforce recently eliminated 4,000 customer support positions in favour of AI agents.