Meta Platforms is alerting thousands of employees that they are being laid off as part of a previously announced restructuring aimed at reducing costs and investing in AI.

The company started notifying workers around the world on Wednesday morning, beginning with employees in Asia who received notices around 4:00 a.m. Singapore time. US staff members are expected to receive word during their morning.

While the company cuts 8,000 roles globally, staff are being encouraged to work from home. This latest round of layoffs is expected to affect Meta’s engineering and product teams, with some cuts slated for later this year, according to a company employee.

The Human Cost of Automation

“Automators like Meta risk no longer being an employer of choice, as it’s being revealed that they will cut out the human when the opportunity presents itself,” said Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, a professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Oxford. “Doing so might well lead to short-term cost savings, but it risks longer-term growth potential by undermining employee wellbeing and engagement.”

On Monday, Meta informed staff that around 7,000 workers have been reassigned to focus on AI initiatives, including AI products and agents. By the end of March, which was prior to these reassignments and layoffs, the company had already committed over $100 billion to AI capital expenditures.

“We’re now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure, using smaller teams of pods or cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership,” Meta’s Head of People, Janelle Gale, said in a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. “We believe this will make us more productive and make the work more rewarding.”

Zuckerberg’s Push for Efficiency

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has made AI the company’s main priority to ensure it stays ahead of competitors like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and OpenAI. This shift has heavily impacted Meta’s workforce and operations. In recent years, the company has executed multiple rounds of layoffs to push for efficiency and streamline operations. Furthermore, Zuckerberg has encouraged engineers to use AI agents to assist with coding and other tasks, and he has outlined plans to track employee devices to improve the technology.

Backlash from Workers and Wall Street

These changes have left Meta employees feeling both frustrated and anxious. Over a thousand employees have signed a petition addressed to Zuckerberg and other company leaders, demanding that Meta refrain from collecting data from their devices to train AI models.

Meanwhile, Meta’s aggressive spending on AI has caused concern among investors, who worry that the company’s massive investments may not pay off. While Meta believes this transition will increase efficiency, investment analysts estimate that the cuts will only generate $3 billion in savings.