Meta's fast-tracked reorganization around AI over the last 18 months has produced an Applied AI unit of roughly 6,500 people that employees describe as directionless, with weekly priority shifts and assignments that feel like temporary support work for model teams. A recent livestreamed all-hands meeting erupted when a participant shouted expletives at leadership, prompting Zuckerberg's company-wide memo that concedes mistakes were made and frames the unit as a short-term waypoint.
too busy with spacex this week but there's a shitstorm over at meta w/r/t morale
a blowup at an internal meeting this week basically made zuckerberg send out a companywide memo to calm things down
wired has more deets on all the furor
https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-meta-employee-meeting-interrupt-ai/
The full text of Zuckerberg's note is not public, the specific executive singled out in the outburst is unnamed, and no timeline exists for resolving the reported reorg churn or clarifying long-term roles for Applied AI staff.
Chris Cox told an Instagram all-hands the current environment feels like a marathon run in a hailstorm and called the overall intensity the insanity of the company, while still positioning AI itself as neither savior nor catastrophe.
Many users condemned Meta's AI push under Zuckerberg as hypocritical and creating a brutal nightmare workplace with poor leadership and low morale.
i will say the mark memo hints at a level of existentialism that he/meta seems to be reckoning with which i think will just be fundamentally out of sync with where rank and file come from
i.e. steward of employees vs steward of Meta the entity
quote from mark memo, per sources
too busy with spacex this week but there's a shitstorm over at meta w/r/t morale
a blowup at an internal meeting this week basically made zuckerberg send out a companywide memo to calm things down
wired has more deets on all the furor
https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-meta-employee-meeting-interrupt-ai/
past 18 months have been sort of insane for Meta and my suspicion is leadership either hasnt tapped into how destabilizing some of these changes have been for rank and file, OR are just trying to push through what is going to be an unavoidable rocky period
maybe both
too busy with spacex this week but there's a shitstorm over at meta w/r/t morale
a blowup at an internal meeting this week basically made zuckerberg send out a companywide memo to calm things down
wired has more deets on all the furor
https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-meta-employee-meeting-interrupt-ai/
fwiw I don’t think Mark’s memo was because of one dude popping off, things have obviously been simmering for a while there and I imagine that has not been lost on those higher up
past 18 months have been sort of insane for Meta and my suspicion is leadership either hasnt tapped into how destabilizing some of these changes have been for rank and file, OR are just trying to push through what is going to be an unavoidable rocky period
maybe both
https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-meta-employee-meeting-interrupt-ai/
@MikeIsaac No paywall: https://archive.is/ate5W
@MikeIsaac Forcing people to transfer into a unit and tracking employees’ keystrokes was always going to lead to this. The mass layoffs simply amplified the issues. Zuck continues to have managerial blind spots or he just doesn’t care
@MikeIsaac ty mike
@MikeIsaac Hey @finkd , I'm around if you ever want to chat.
@MikeIsaac Can't believe some people have not learned the lesson that you shouldn't make work your purpose in life.
@MikeIsaac "we've made mistakes and we'll make more" is not what you want to hear from executives
@MikeIsaac the gulag quote was a bit much
@MikeIsaac IG/FB features + glasses + small business tools + superintelligence, says Zuck.
Engineers writing Proof of Work puzzle code for AI training.
What a mess.
Makes even Google seem sleek and focused.
@MikeIsaac Interesting juxtaposition. Mark still believes he’s running a startup that could be worthless tomorrow but the rank and file joined a blue chip company that believed it would be around for 100 years. There are likely employees at FB who haven’t lived in a world without FB
@MikeIsaac If I was getting a Meta paycheck, nothing would mess with my morale. I’d be shining Zuck’s shoes and be the top company man
@sophiekleeman They really let leaders ramble pointlessly like this? And think it’s good?
@sophiekleeman i am mad that you guys beat me but you did it well, ugh
@MikeIsaac Idk it sucks for the employees and I feel bad for them (if i was assigned to AAI i would quit), but makes sense from a strategic POV that the fastest and highest ROI method would be to get good data fast.
@sophiekleeman They're so cooked
@PatrickODonne11 @MikeIsaac This is a company where every day you wake up you could experience everything from a personal superintelligence agent to a better tool for small businesses to thrive and create jobs
@drgurner @MikeIsaac @finkd we're all set.
👩🏻💻 cc: @DeniseKShull 👁️ bcc: @DinaPowellMcC 💜
