Mark Zuckerberg was ready to pull the plug \u2014 then a revolt stopped him in his tracks.<\/p>\n
New details have surfaced of those plans involving tech giant Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, revealing the ambitious goal to use artificial intelligence to take over the role of many staffers.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg and top executives hatched a plan, codenamed Project OT (Organization Transformation), that envisioned AI reshaping the company\u2019s workforce radically.<\/p>\n
A view of the Meta (Facebook) headquarters on Friday, May 15, 2026, in Menlo Park, California. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Under that plan, small, \u201ctalent-dense\u201d groups of human staffers would oversee virtual workers, according to internal documents seen by Reuters<\/a>. Teams that consisted of 10-20 people would be dramatically reduced to 3-5 people armed with AI tools.<\/p>\n To execute the plan, executives had planned slashing as much as 60% of many teams on the workforce that could result in huge layoffs. A first purge would happen in May and a second in November, planning documents revealed.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n In addition, open job positions would be closed and poor performers would be targeted. Meta launched a human resources tool to identify \u201cirreplacable talent,\u201d or extremely talented people who could do the work of an entire team with AI.<\/p>\n But that plan didn\u2019t go as expected. A layoff happened in May but the November one was called off.<\/p>\n Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives outside court to take the stand at trial in Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n Employees reportedly revolted after news came out about impending layoffs.<\/p>\n One lawsuit filed by more than two dozen employees accused the company of using an internal AI platform to select targets, disproportionately targeting those with disabilities.<\/p>\n Meta pursued its Project OT. Olga \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n News that Meta was requiring tracking software on employee devices to teach AI agents further infuriated workers who feared they were being replaced. Many employees left messages on internal platforms expressing anger and some mocking executives.<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s internal measure of employee sentiment dropped from 74% favorable to 55% favorable, according to a company survey.<\/p>\n There were also technical concerns that Project OT may not go as envisioned. Technical and security incidents, such as service disruptions and possible data leaks, surged due to overreliance on unchecked AI agents, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n Questions about the AI\u2019s productivity also surfaced, according to internal posts.<\/p>\n Facebook corporate headquarters is seen in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. Facebook owner Meta announced it will lay off more than 11,000 of its staff. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n All that led Zuckerberg to change course and his tone. He made an appearance at a company town hall in July and made some concessions. AI agent technology, the CEO said, had not \u201caccelerated\u201d as quickly as he had anticipated.<\/p>\n The company is currently on a blitz to emphasize Meta as people-centric.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the only major company focusing on empowering people and putting the power of this new technology in billions of people\u2019s hands across all our products \u2013 rather than primarily focusing on automating work,\u201d he said in an internal post.<\/p>\n Meta confirmed Project OT existed in a statement to Reuters but claimed it never intended to layoff 60% of its workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of our company restructuring earlier this year, we asked some teams to conduct a scenario planning exercise looking at the potential impact of redeployments, open role closures and cuts,\u201d Meta said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ultimately resulted in moving thousands of employees to do priority work on several newly-established teams, as has been publicly reported. Ultimately, we didn\u2019t move forward with every scenario from the exercise \u2013 and it was never assumed we would.\u201d<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/p>\n California Post News<\/strong>: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t
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