Meta's AI Gamble: Why Zuckerberg Reversed Course on Massive Layoffs In early 2026, @Meta leadership approved Project OT — an ambitious plan to transform the company into an #AI-native organization. The strategy involved replacing human workers with AI agents across multiple teams, with some divisions facing cuts up to 60%. The company executed the first wave of layoffs in May, cutting approximately 10% of its workforce. However, just before implementation, Zuckerberg canceled the second reorganization wave scheduled for November. Internal data revealed a troubling reality. While code changes increased 220% year-over-year due to AI assistance, only 36% of those changes resulted in actual new features for users. Infrastructure teams reported a 40% rise in critical security incidents and a 70% increase in time spent fixing failures. Employee resistance intensified as Meta installed keystroke tracking software on work devices and reassigned engineers to create training data for AI models — effectively building the technology that could replace them. Meta pivoted its public messaging to "Bet on People," framing AI as a tool to augment human capabilities rather than automate jobs. Zuckerberg acknowledged that AI agent development hadn't "accelerated" as expected. This Meta moment signals a broader lesson for the tech industry: cutting workforce in the name of AI hasn't delivered the productivity gains companies promised.