--- title: Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the... description: Meta spent early this year planning Project OT, an internal initiative to cut some teams by up to 60% and replace daily work with AI agents supervised by... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the work with AI | daily.dev og:description: Meta spent early this year planning Project OT, an internal initiative to cut some teams by up to 60% and replace daily work with AI agents supervised by... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rcPCc6BUE.png og:image:alt: Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the work with AI og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the work with AI **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Meta spent early this year planning Project OT, an internal initiative to cut some teams by up to 60% and replace daily work with AI agents supervised by smaller 'talent-dense' staff pods. Zuckerberg canceled the second, larger November wave hours before a planned first purge, though Meta went ahead with roughly 8,000 layoffs (about 10% of staff) in May and moved 7,000 people into AI roles. Internal data showed AI agents generating far more code changes (up 220% year over year) without a matching rise in user-facing features (up only 36%), while security incidents and firefighting time surged. Employees grew resentful, sentiment scores dropped, mouse-tracking software meant to train agents was paused, and 26 employees have sued over alleged targeting of workers on medical leave. Meta says no further company-wide layoffs are planned this year, though team-level cuts remain possible. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Meta cancel its plan to replace employees with AI agents? Meta's internal data showed AI agents were producing volume without matching value: code changes to internal platforms rose 220% year over year, but changes that reached users as new or upgraded features rose only 36%. Major technical and security incidents climbed 40%, and time spent firefighting them rose 70%, undercutting the case for the AI-native restructuring known as Project OT. _Anyone weighing AI agent adoption against real feature output can track this debate as it develops on daily.dev._ ### How many jobs did Meta cut in its 2026 AI-driven restructuring? Meta cut about 8,000 jobs, roughly 10% of its staff, in May as part of Project OT's first wave, while simultaneously moving 7,000 people into AI-focused roles that same week. A planned second, larger wave for November, which had explored cutting some teams by as much as 60%, was cancelled by Zuckerberg the night before the first wave took effect. _Engineers tracking how companies restructure around AI agents can follow this story on daily.dev._ ### What went wrong with Meta's AI customer support bot in 2026? Hackers exploited Meta's new AI customer support bot in June to reach high-profile Instagram accounts, including the dormant Obama White House page. This incident came amid a broader rise in major technical and security incidents tied to AI agents operating with insufficient oversight, which climbed 40% year over year alongside a 70% increase in time spent firefighting them. _Developers assessing AI agent security risks can keep up with incidents like this on daily.dev._ --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the work with AI","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T13:16:02.936Z","dateModified":"2026-09-03T19:23:41.677Z","description":"Meta spent early this year planning Project OT, an internal initiative to cut some teams by up to 60% and replace daily work with AI agents supervised by...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6e6f05a6279e167e61f26ec25e96a0d0?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6e6f05a6279e167e61f26ec25e96a0d0?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,productivity","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Meta planned to cut some teams by 60% and replace the work with AI"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/meta-planned-to-cut-some-teams-by-60-and-replace-the-work-with-ai-rcpcc6bue#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Meta cancel its plan to replace employees with AI agents?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Meta's internal data showed AI agents were producing volume without matching value: code changes to internal platforms rose 220% year over year, but changes that reached users as new or upgraded features rose only 36%. 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